Prince Harry opens up about ‘central piece’ of ongoing rift with the royal family
Prince Harry openly talked about one of the things that became a huge factor in his ongoing rift with the royal family.
In his ITV interview for the documentary Tabloids on Trial, the Duke of Sussex explained why he decided to pursue a number of lawsuits against media companies in public.
When asked how certain tabloids “destroyed the relationship” with his family, he answered, “I think that’s certainly a central piece to it.”
“That’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press,” he said.
“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we did it as a family,” he opened up. “I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you’re in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But I’m doing this for my reasons.”
The series puts the spotlight on a phone hacking scandal that ran from 2006 to 2011, which prompted Harry to pursue lawsuits against publishing outlets in Britain for invasion of privacy. In December 2023, a UK judge ruled that Harry was a victim of “extensive” phone hacking by the staff of Mirror Group Newspapers. He was awarded £140,600 (P10 million) in damages.
Harry has two ongoing civil cases against the publishers of The Mail and The Sun, according to PEOPLE.
Court documents obtained by Reuters, meanwhile, showed that his brother Prince William got a “very large sum of money” in a private settlement with media firms in 2020.
Why did the royal family remain tight-lipped about the issue? “I think everything that's played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is. For me, the mission continues. But it has caused part of a rift,” said Harry.
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, formally dropped their royal duties in 2020 and moved to the latter’s home state—California.
PEOPLE Magazine reported that the pair later announced they would have “no corroboration and zero engagement” with four UK tabloids: The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, and The Express. According to Harry and Meghan, the media outfits have “pulled apart” the lives of many people.
In a March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made some shocking revelations involving the Palace, including racism around their son Archie, a rift between Harry and his late father Charles, and Markle suffering from mental health issues. The royal family, in a statement, said that they were "saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been" for the two as they noted that they were keen to fix their issues privately.
