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On Tuesday, Prince Harry took the stand in his lawsuit against the publishers of UK tabloid the Daily Mirror.
Harry has accused that the newspaper of hacking his phone and using other illegal means to obtain information about his personal life.
Such instances of overreach from the press are, of course, a rather sensitive subject for Harry, whose mother was killed while fleeing from paparazzi in 1997.
So while other members of his family might choose to suffer in silence, Harry has opted instead to take up arms against the foes who have been harassing him his entire life.
If that sounds dramatic, well — it is, but Harry has made it clear that he sees limiting abuses and corruption within the media as one of his life’s missions.
Taking the stand on Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex read from a 55-page witness statement, in which he bashed everyone from Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, to Piers Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror at the time of the hacking scandal.
At one point, Harry discussed his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy and the manner in which it was sabotaged by the media.
In two articles that were published in January of 2005, the Mirror alleged that Harry had been spotted “flirting with a brunette” at a party while Davy was out of town.
Surprisingly, Harry did not deny the allegations in court, but instead blasted the outlet that turned his youthful indiscretion into front page news.
“I had been immature, I hadn’t really thought about my actions and I had made a stupid decision — and my mistakes were being played out publicly,” he said on the stand.
“Our relationship was long distance for the majority of the time we were together, with Chelsy and I often living in different countries, so we relied on communicating by phone a lot,” Harry continued.
Harry blasted the Mirror for interfering with one of the most important relationships in his life so soon after he had lost his mother.
“I genuinely feel that in every relationship that I’ve ever had – be that with friends, girlfriends, with family or with the army, there’s always been a third party involved, namely the tabloid press,” said Harry.
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“We, naturally, spoke about all types of personal matters, including all aspects of our relationship and this was often through voicemail. As my girlfriend, I trusted Chelsy with the most private of information and vice versa,” he added, referencing the Mirror’s alleged habit of stealing Harry’s voicemail messages.
Elsewhere in his testimony, Harry accused the editors of the Mirror of having blood on their hands.
“How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?” Harry said, later elaborating:
“Some of the editors and journalists that are responsible for causing a lot of pain, upset and in some cases, speaking personally, death.”
Strong words indeed — but perhaps not surprisingly, it was Harry’s comment about his ex that attracted the most attention in the press.
“You have to wonder what Meghan makes of Harry’s testimony regarding Chelsy,” journalist Christopher Andersen, said in an interview Fox News.
“They were together for eight years and seemed headed for the altar. Is the assumption here that Chelsy was really Harry’s first choice and that they would have married if it hadn’t been for the intrusive tabloid press? Meghan can’t be too happy about that, I would imagine.”
“Prince Harry is driving, looking in the rearview mirror,” royal expert Hilary Fordwich echoed in a discussion with the same outlet.
“His relationship with Chelsy was long before Meghan Markle. How on earth must Meghan be feeling that he is dwelling on a lost love to this day?”
Chelsy was in attendance at Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018, but the Duchess has never offered any public comment about her husband’s exes.
The Mirror lawsuit is one of two legal battles Harry is involved with at the moment.
Stateside, a conservative think tank has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security alleging that Harry should be deported due to his past drug use.
We’ll have further updates on both of these developing stories as new information becomes available.
