Prince Harry is expanding his battle with the tabloid press. On Friday, the prince filed a lawsuit against the owners of the U.K. tabloid papers The Sun and The Daily Mirror for allegedly hacking his phone. The fresh court filing came just days after Harry sued the owners of The Daily Mail for publishing a private letter that his wife, Meghan Markle, wrote to her estranged father. The lawsuit against The Sun and Mirror owners accuses them of illegally hacking his phone.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CNN the lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch‘s News Group Newspapers (NGN), which owns The Sun, a lawsuit was filed “regarding the illegal interception of voicemail messages.”
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“We confirm that a claim has been issued by the Duke of Sussex. We have no further comment to make at the current time,” an NGN spokesperson told CNN.
A source at Reach plc, which owns The Mirror, told CNN it has heard of the lawsuit, but did not get a notification of it yet.
The details behind the phone hacking claim are unknown, but according to ITV’s Chris Ship, the lawsuit lists Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the former owner of The Mirror as one of the defendants. In the past, MGN and The Sun have both settled phone-hacking lawsuits in the aftermath of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the News of the World closing in 2011.
Harry has been particularly sensitive to the U.K. tabloids’ obsession with Markle and the royal family. His mother, Princess Diana, was killed in Paris in 1997 when her car was chased by a paparazzo.
“As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting. We regard it as a cornerstone of democracy and in the current state of the world – on every level – we have never needed responsible media more,” Harry said in a statement. “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.”
Later on in the statement, Harry noted his “deepest fear” is history repeating itself.
“Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one,” Harry’s statement continued. “Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are not longer treated or seen as a real person. I love my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Back in February, The Daily Mail published a letter they claimed was written by Markle and given to them by her estranged father, Thomas Markle. In his statement, Harry said the letter was “published unlawfully.”
“The Mail on Sunday stands by the story it published and will be defending this case vigorously,” a Mail spokesman told Entertainment Tonight. “Specifically, we categorically deny that the Duchess’s letter was edited in any way that changed its meaning.”
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