The Duke of Sussex believes he has faced a “sustained campaign” of attacks for having “the temerity to stand up” to the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court heard on Tuesday.
Lawyers for Prince Harry made the claim as they set out 14 articles about him they allege were secured using unlawful information-gathering by Associated Newspapers Ltd, which publishes the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.
Harry will now appear in court today to give evidence – a day earlier than expected – as he and six other prominent claimants attempt to disprove the newspaper group’s repeated and vehement denials that it ever engaged in unlawful information-gathering.
David Sherborne, the barrister representing the duke and other claimants, claimed flight details and sensitive information that had serious implications for Harry’s security had been obtained unlawfully.
“In his witness statement for the trial, the Duke of Sussex speaks of the impact which this has had on him, the distress, the paranoia and the other feelings that it generated,” Sherborne told the high court in London.
“But given what we’ve seen, is it any wonder that he feels that way, or as he explains, that he feels he has endured a sustained campaign of attacks against him for having had the temerity to stand up to Associated in the way that he has so publicly done?”
The duke’s concern about his treatment emerged as Sherborne set out key parts of the case against the publisher. He highlighted articles he said bore the “hallmarks of unlawful information-gathering”.