As part of the legal proceedings against the publisher of the “Daily Mail”, ANL (Associated Newspapers Limited), before the London High Court, details of Prince Harry’s (38) allegations have now also become public.
The Duke of Sussex is among a number of high-profile figures who have sued the publisher over allegations of unlawful information gathering and invasion of privacy. As the “Hello!” magazine reports, among other things, it is said to be “the commissioning of private detectives to install listening devices in cars, the interception of private documents and the tapping and recording of private telephone conversations”.
Prince Harry surprisingly arrived in his old home on Monday for a court hearing. He spoke about the impact of these “unlawful acts” and the consequences for his teenage years.
In a document filed on Harry’s behalf, attorney David Sherborne stated: “Specifically, the publication of the unlawful articles by Associated created suspicion and paranoia: friends were lost or expelled, and everyone became a ‘suspect’ because they [ Harry, Red.] was led to believe by the way the articles were written that those close to him were the source of this information, which was made available to the Associated newspapers.”
He added: “The plaintiff considers Associated’s wrongful actions to be a major treason in the face of media promises to mend their conduct following the tragic and untimely death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.”
Harry, Sir Elton John, 76, his husband David Furnish, 60, Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon, 70, and actress Sadie Frost, 57, were present at the start of the first hearing of their lawsuits against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) on Monday appeared in the Royal Courts of Justice. The group also includes Elizabeth Hurley, 57, and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes, 71.
Other allegations, first made public on Monday, include a claim that John and Furnish’s landline phone was tapped at their Windsor home. Attorney Sherborne said: “They are also ashamed to think that all of their conversations, some of which were very personal, were intercepted, recorded and used as a commercial product for journalists and others, whether published or not not.”
Lawyers for ANL, the publisher of The Mail On Sunday and Mail Online, have “strongly denied” the allegations, saying the “flamboyant” allegations were made too late.
