What to Know
Prince Harry‘s ongoing legal battle against the Daily Mail‘s publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), continued in London this week as the Duke of Sussex appeared in High Court. He’s one of multiple public figures speaking out about the publisher and the way they’ve reported about celebrities in the past, and now, Harry has admitted that they’re responsible for making wife Meghan Markle‘s life “misery,” while also causing him some trauma of his own.
Harry became emotional as he spoke to the court.
When Harry took the stand on Wednesday, People reported that he was “on the verge of tears” as he spoke about the negative impact that the British press has had on him and his family.
“By standing up here and taking a stand against them, this has continued to come after me,” he said. “And they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery, my Lord.”
While Harry also spoke about how his privacy was deeply invaded during his previous relationship with girlfriend Chelsy Davy, he said in his witness statement to the court that starting a family of his own made everything intensify.
“In late 2016, when my relationship with Meghan, my now wife, became public, I started to become increasingly troubled by the approach of not taking action against the press in the wake of vicious persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles concerning Meghan,” he wrote. “The situation got worse when she became pregnant and after our son, Archie, was born.”
His experience has only gotten worse as the lawsuit has progressed.
Now that the lawsuit has carried on for years, Harry isn’t seeing an improvement in the situation — in fact, according to him, it’s only getting worse.
“Through the course of this litigation, it’s only got worse, not better,” he said. “It’s fundamentally wrong to put all of us through all of this again. What’s required is an apology and some accountability. It’s a horrible experience.”
Harry isn’t the only celebrity involved in this trial.
There are seven claimants in the lawsuit. Along with Harry, Elizabeth Hurley and Elton John are also included, and Elizabeth took the stand herself on Thursday, also becoming emotional as she accused the papers of bugging her home and landline.
Though Harry wasn’t required to be in court that day, he was still present in support of Elizabeth as she testified.
According to People, the trial is expected to go on for about nine weeks, so it sounds like Harry and the others involved still have a long way to go before they can put this case behind them.
