Prince Harry accused the royal family of having a “never complain, never explain” policy when dealing with the media in a witness statement submitted in a U.K. court Tuesday. Harry and several other British celebrities are suing Associated Newspapers Ltd. (ANL), the publisher of The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, of using illegal information-gathering techniques for its reporting. In his statement, Harry said the family “institution” conditioned him to accept negative media stories.
“Following the death of my mother in 1997 when I was 12 years old and her treatment at the hands of the press, I have always had an uneasy relationship with the press,” Harry wrote in his witness statement, reports PEOPLE. “However, as a member of the Institution, the policy was to ‘never complain, never explain.’ There was no alternative; I was conditioned to accept it. For the most part, I accepted the interest in my performing my public functions.”
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Harry’s relationship with his wife, Meghan Markle, changed his perspective on the media. The negative coverage of Markle, while they dated, made him “increasingly troubled” by the royal family’s approach to “not take action against the press,” even when “vicious persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles concerning Meghan” were published. The situation only “got worse” during Markle’s pregnancy and after their son, Prince Archie was born in May 2019.
In 2018, Harry became aware that he could file a claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN) over phone hacking, he wrote. NGN is the Rupert Murdoch-owned publisher of The Sun. Harry accused Buckingham Palace of “withholding information from me for a long time about NGN’s phone hacking,” which he only learned about after he “pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation.” He also said the “bubble burst in terms of what I knew” when he and Markle left the U.K. in 2020. That year, the couple stepped down from senior royal family roles and moved to California.
“To this day, there are members of the Royal Family and friends of mine who may have been targeted by NGN and I have no idea whether they have or have not brought claims,” Harry wrote. “There was never any centralized discussion between us about who had brought claims as each office in the Institution is siloed. There is this misconception that we are all in constant communication with one another but that is not true.”
Harry went on to say that he took legal action against ANL for the greater good. “I am bringing this claim because I love my country and I remain deeply concerned by the unchecked power, influence, and criminality of Associated,” the Duke of Sussex wrote. “The evidence I have seen shows that Associated’s journalists are criminals with journalistic powers which should concern every single one of us. The British public deserves to know the full extent of this cover up and I feel it is my duty to expose it.”
Prince Harry made a surprise return to the U.K. on Monday to appear at the High Court in London in person. He returned to court on Tuesday for the second day, alongside Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Doreen Lawrence, and Sadie Frost. They are all suing ANL for allegedly using illegal practices for their reporting. The publisher is accused of using listening devices in cars and homes, recording private telephone calls, paying police for sensitive information, obtaining medical information through impersonation, and manipulating bank accounts. The hearing will last four days and will end with a judge deciding if the case should go to trial. ANL has denied the allegations.
