Prince Harry has recently attended London's High Court for a hearing in his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited.
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The Prince, along with other celebrities, are suing the Daily Mail publisher for allegedly bugging their phones and breaching their privacy. The Duke of Sussex has used the occasion to issue a stark warning about the future of the UK.
Prince Harry warns 'the whole country is doomed'
In a witness statement, Harry said he made the decision to bring a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers because:
If the most influential newspaper company can successfully evade justice, then in my opinion the whole country is doomed.
I am bringing this claim because I love my country and I remain deeply concerned by the unchecked power, influence and criminality of Associated.
He then targeted the publisher's journalists, saying:
The evidence I have seen shows that Associated’s journalists are criminals with journalistic powers which should concern every single one of us. The British public deserve to know the full extent of this cover up and I feel it is my duty to expose it.
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Royal Family had 'secret deal' with newspapers
Prince Harry also struck out at the Royal Family again - which he describes as the Institution - accusing them of having a 'secret deal' with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) not to sue them over phone hacking.
In documents filed to the high court, he claimed:
There was in place an agreement between the Institution and NGN that we would not engage, or even discuss, the possibility of bringing claims against NGN until the litigation against it relating to phone hacking was over.
The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking and it was made clear to me that the royal family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms.
Harry added:
The Institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about NGN’s phone hacking and that has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation.
Sources used:
The Guardian: 'Prince Harry: royals ‘agreed not to sue’ newspapers over phone hacking'