Prince Harry said his decision to continue the fight against the media intrusion in the royal family has been the “central piece” behind the rift between him and the rest of the family members in the Palace. He opened up for the first time since the four-year legal battle concluded and said he had been vindicated. The comments are to be aired as part of an ITV documentary on Thursday.
The Duke of Sussex said it would be nice if we did (fought the battle) as a family.
In December, a high court judge ruled that Mirror Group Newspapers had unlawfully gathered information for stories on Prince Harry.
Prince Harry, who became the first British royal in 130 years to give evidence in a court, told the programme his decision to fight these cases had “caused… part of a rift” with the rest of his family.
“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family. I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons,” he said.
Referring to one headline from the Daily Mirror brought up in his case against MGN which claimed his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was preparing to break up with him, the prince said it “seems as though they knew something before I even did”.
“I think there’s a lot of… paranoia, fear, worry, concern, distrust in the people around you, clearly a headline like that has absolutely no public interest whatsoever,” he said.
Asked what he thought of the royal family’s decision not to fight, he said, “I think everything that has played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is. For me, the mission continues, but it has, it has, yes. It’s caused, yeah, as you say, part of a rift.”
Harry and Meghan stepped back from their royal duties in 2020 and moved to the US revealing their struggles under the media spotlight.