Prince Harry condemns British tabloid for hacking his voicemail

Prince Harry was this Friday ordered by the publisher of the British tabloid Daily Mirror to pay him £140,600 (€163,000) in damages for articles resulting from hacked phone messages.

The judge estimated that 15 of the 33 disputed articles remaining in the proceedings were the result of hacking into the messaging system of the king’s youngest son, Charles III, or his circle. He estimates that messages on Prince Harry’s mobile phone were hacked to a “moderate extent”.

The judge further highlighted Prince Harry’s “tendency” to believe that “whatever was published was the result of voicemail interception” as such practice was “prevalent within the Mirror Group at the time.” But the practice was “not the only journalistic tool at the time, and claims about 18 other articles do not stand up to scrutiny.”

He also highlighted the “suffering” Harry suffered “as a result of illegal activities directed at him and his loved ones.”

First Prince at court since 1891.

Prince Harry welcomed the verdict this Friday through his lawyer. He accused the publisher of the Daily Mirror of using illegal processes to collect information, including hacking phone messages, between 1996 and 2010.

In June, the Duke of Sussex condemned the press’s interference in his life before the High Court in London and said that “every article” about him caused him distress. It was the first appearance of a member of the royal family in court since the future Edward VII in 1891 for libel.

At the start of the trial, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which publishes the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People in addition to the Daily Mirror, issued an “unconditional” apology, admitting there was “some evidence” of illegal information gathering.

The decision is just the latest chapter in a long legal series that pits the prince against British newspapers. Prince exiled to United States for three years claims he fled kingdom because of tabloids: ‘I’ve seen what happens when the person I love is trivialized to the point where he is no longer treated or treated like a real person “He blames the paparazzi for their role in his mother’s death and fears for his wife’s safety.

On December 11, he was ordered to pay more than €50,000 in compensation to an English tabloid he had sued for libel. The disputed article, published in February 2022, wrongly accused Harry, according to his defense, of “lying” and “trying to keep secret” his appeal against the government to try to gain police protection in the country.

The Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan lost their usual law enforcement protections at the expense of British taxpayers after they decided to quit the royal family and live in the United States in 2020.