Prince Harry details ‘central’ reason for family rift in new TV interview

The Duke of Sussex has given his first major TV interview since the end of his high-profile phone hacking case.

Prince Harry has given his first major TV interview since the end of his high-profile phone hacking court case, appearing on British screens alongside many other well-known identities.

The Duke of Sussex sat down with British journalist Rebecca Barry to speak about the High Court ruling that he was hacked and had his private information obtained by the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles.

In the new interview, which will air in full tomorrow in the UK, Harry confirmed that his determination to fight the tabloids formed a “central piece” of the breakdown of his relationship with his family.

“It’s a hard question to answer, because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press,” he told Ms Barry, in snippets from the interview already released by ITV.

“I’ve made it very clear this is something that needs to be done, and it’d be nice if we did it as a family. From a service standpoint, in a public role, I believe this should be done for the greater good.”

Harry says his pursuit of the tabloids was a “central piece” of the breakdown of the relationship with his family.

“For me, the mission continues. But it has caused, as you say, part of a rift,” he said.

Harry called the court ruling a “monumental victory,” and told Ms Barry that he felt the ruling had “vindicated” what had earlier felt like paranoia about his personal information being leaked.

“Same with my mother: There is evidence to suggest she was being hacked in the mid-90s, probably one of the first people to be hacked. And yet, still today, the tabloid press very much enjoy painting her as being paranoid. But she wasn’t paranoid, she was absolutely right of what was happening to her, and she’s not around today to find out the truth,” he said.

Asked if his mother motivated him in this legal fight, Harry offered that “there’s all sorts of things that motivate me.”

Harry has spoken in a new documentary, Tabloids on Trial. Picture: ITV

ITV’s Tabloids on Trial, which will air in full Thursday night UK time, also features interviews with British actor Hugh Grant, singer Charlotte Church, and former professional footballer Paul Gascoigne.

The program comes months after the duke was awarded around £140,600 (A$270,000) in damages by the High Court in London after it was found that he had been the victim of phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering at the hands of journalists.

The judge ruled that the practice had become “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles in the late nineties and that Harry’s own phone was hacked “to a modest extent”.

“To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favour was obviously huge,” Harry told Ms Barry in the documentary.

“But for him to go as far as he did with regard to, you know, this wasn’t just the individual people. This went right up to the top … this was lawyers, this was high executives. And to be able to achieve that in a trial that’s a monumental victory.”

He was interviewed by ITV’s Rebecca Barry. Picture: ITV

While the duke was not present for the decision in December, his lawyer released a statement on his behalf, in which he described the outcome as “vindicating”.

“Today is a great day for truth as well as accountability,” he said, in part. “I’ve been told that slaying dragons will get you burned. But in light of today’s victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press – it’s a worthwhile price to pay. The mission continues.”

He is the most senior member of the royal family to be cross-examined in court since the 1890s.

During his ITV interview, the duke also spoke about how he has carried with him “paranoia, fear, worry, concern,” as well as a general distrust of people, due to the invasions of his privacy.

“There’s a big difference between what interests the public and what is public interest,” he said.

Harry is still currently involved in legal cases against News Group Newspapers (NGN) over alleged privacy intrusions and two separate issues with Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL).

The Tabloids on Trial documentary covers the scandal across two decades, from the time the allegations first surfaced until around 2012 – the year after the UK’s News of the World was forced to shut down after being accused of hacking.

Harry and his barrister, David Sherborne, at the hacking trial on June 7, 2023 in London. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

During a testimony at his trial against The Mirror publisher last year, Harry spoke passionately of the impact media intrusion has had on his life.

“I was a child, I was at school. These articles were incredibly invasive. Every single time one of these articles was written it would have an impact on my life, the people around me,” he told the court.

“Every one of these articles played an important role, a destructive role, in my growing up.

“As a child growing up, in my teenage years, I was under press invasion for most of my life, up until this day.”

Last month, Harry was ordered to explain how potential evidence in his lawsuit against NGN had disappeared after a lawyer for the publisher alleged in court that he had deliberately destroyed text messages sent between himself and the ghostwriter of his bombshell memoir, Spare.

Harry’s lawyer denied the claims, accusing the publisher of a “transparent, old-fashioned fishing expedition”, according to court documents.

“NGN’s tactical and sluggish approach to disclosure wholly undermines the deliberately sensational assertion that [the Duke of Sussex] has not properly carried out the disclosure exercise,” David Sherborne argued.

“This is untrue. In fact, the Claimant has already made clear that he has conducted extensive searches, going above and beyond his obligations.”