In his courtroom diatribe against the tabloids, Prince Harry failed to follow Princess Diana's example
Prince Harry arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice in London last week to give testimony in his case against Associated Newspapers Limited, January 21, 1996Sitting in the witness box at the Royal Courts of Justice in London last week, Prince Harry relentlessly attacked reporters for the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday for allegedly using illegal methods (phone tapping, hacking voicemails, stealing sensitive information, planting bugs) for their stories about him. Joining him in the legal battle are six other plaintiffs, including Elton John and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, who are making similar claims about invasion of privacy. The trial is expected to last eight more weeks at a cost of nearly £40 million to the plaintiffs and Associated Newspapers Limited, owner of the two tabloid titles.In his two hours of testimony, Harry was by turns simmering with anger, sarcastic, and contemptuous, describing 14 articles published between 2001 and 2013 as “disgusting” and “creepy.” His performance on the stand included a fresh tirade against the royal family (“The Institution,” in his clinical characterization) that he said had “forced” him “to perform” for journalists and prevented him from complaining about press coverage.“A good source of leaks”Harry said he “believed” that the reporters invented sources and fabricated information to disguise what he claimed was “private information…obtained by unlawful means.” Associated Newspapers has consistently denied Harry’s allegations as “lurid” and “preposterous.” Antony White KC, ANL’s barrister, argued that the stories were reported “entirely legitimately from information provided by contacts of the journalists responsible.” Many of the sources, he said, were from Harry’s “social circle,” known to be “a good source of leaks” about his private life, an assertion Harry denied.Harry offered no concrete proof and often contradicted himself as he ploughed on, naming and attempting to shame. He scathingly singled out three female reporters in particular. He said that Rebecca English, the well-connected doyenne of royal correspondents, had built her career “through the use of my private life, without shame.” When asked if he had a good relationship with her, he huffed, “Quite the opposite.” Katie Nicholl “was not part of my social circle. She turned up at events my friends were at.” He claimed she tried to “make it look like she had all these sources.”Prince Harry giving testimony in the High Court, January 21, 2026“I have never used the name Mr. Mischief”But it was his exchange with White about Charlotte Griffiths of the Mail on Sunday that proved most memorable. The lawyer told the court that Griffiths had socialized with Harry and “exchanged friendly messages” on Facebook, where he used the pseudonym “Mr. Mischief.” In his testimony Harry admitted he had “no idea” if he had communicated with Griffiths on Facebook but said, “I have never used the name ‘Mr. Mischief.’”I couldn’t help thinking that his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would have appreciated the moniker. In her dealings with the press, Diana could have been the original “Miss Mischief”—one of many ironies that seemingly eluded her younger son. Harry declared that his lawsuit was based on “the concept of public duty” that “my mother instilled in me.” Those words prompted me to comb through my research for Diana in Search of Herself, published in 1999.Among the hundreds of interviews were more than two dozen with reporters and editors who had close and frequent contact with Diana. Their interactions revealed a pattern of mutual manipulation and her use of deception as well as blandishments. On balance—and perhaps somewhat influenced by her efforts—reporters and editors were more sympathetic to her than to Prince Charles, especially in the very Mail titles now in Harry’s crosshairs.“Addressing the allegations against them”Antony White told the court that a “full roster” of its journalists will “give evidence addressing the allegations against them.” Chief among these will be Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail from 1992 to 2018 and now editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers. One wonders if Harry realizes how important Dacre was to his late mother. Does Harry know that in her final years Diana had begun to instruct Prince William in the ways of the tabloid press?Most notably, this education included William’s only private meeting as a teenager with a journalist, a luncheon in 1996 at Kensington Palace with Piers Morgan, then editor of The Mirror, who would years later become another of Harry’s adversaries. In 2023 Harry won a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers after Judge Timothy Fancourt found the company guilty of “widespread and habitual” phone hacking between the late 1990s and 2011. Morgan, who was editor until 2004, has denied he knew of phone hacking, a claim the judge found “unpersuasive.”
