The prince in court: We were bugged

The prince revealed the illegal wiretapping  

Of:  

Jenny Alexandersson  

Published: Less than 2 hours ago  

Updated: Less than 2 hours ago  

Prince Harry

 

It was Prince William who revealed that the royal family was wiretapped.  

That was told by his brother Prince Harry, who testified in court against two British newspapers that allegedly made headlines by spying on the royals. 

- It's really disgusting, says the prince.  

It was a relaxed prince who arrived at court. But much is at stake for

Prince Harry

, who has sued the newspaper publisher

Associated Newspapers

for invasion of privacy and illegal wiretapping. 

In 2005, William received a tip from journalist and prince friend Tom Bradby that the royal family might have been bugged. 

Bradby had been commissioned to edit a humorous video based on Williams' private footage.  

They scheduled the time and place for the pickup of Williams' video footage by phone. Shortly after the conversation, an article about their plan appeared in the British newspaper News of the World. 

 

Prince Harry arrives at the High Court in London for preliminary hearings surrounding the prince's lawsuit against Associated Newspapers. Photo: Kin Cheung/AP  

Several people were arrested in the tangle  

Neither Bradby nor William had told anyone else that they were going to see each other. 

- When I was a court reporter, wiretapping was kind of an open secret, Bradby told William, who contacted Scotland Yard. 

A huge wiretapping scandal unfolded culminating in 2011, several people were arrested and the News of the World was shut down.  

But the lawsuits have followed each other and more British newspaper publishers have been accused of wiretapping and dirty practices.  

In Harry's case, it is now the Associated Newspaper that stands accused, with the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail at the forefront. 

         

  

A drawing from the court proceedings in London. Prince Harry, along with some other famous people, has sued the newspaper publisher Associated Newspapers. Photo: Elizabeth Cook/AP  

"The bubble burst when I moved abroad"  

Harry gave the royal family and the court a real boot in his testimony. The prince accused them of withholding information from him because the court did not want to end up in a lawsuit against the newspapers.  

Details from a trial would create even more material for the tabloids to write about. Prince Harry also said he didn't realize he could take legal action to mark the papers until he met Meghan. 

- It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble burst in terms of what I knew in 2020 when I moved from the UK.  

The Associated Newspaper believes that this lawsuit has its origins in the old scandal. It should therefore be dismissed in its entirety.  

"It appears to be a planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal involving articles up to 30 years old," said a spokesperson for the publisher.  

Facts  

Harry v. Associated Newspapers  

*The prince, along with Elton John, filmmaker David Furnish, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, have sued Associated Newspapers for illegal wiretapping and invasion of privacy. Doreen Lawrence who is the mother of Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993 has also made common cause with the prince.  

*Associated Newspapers allegedly tapped cell phone answering machines and placed listening devices in cars and private homes. They are also said to have bribed police officers to leak information about sensitive events, and reporters are said to have pretended to be someone else when they contacted medical staff and obtained a lot of private information and medical records.  

*Associated Newspapers has the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline