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Rebecca English, who joined the Daily Mail in 1999 and became royal editor in 2020, was giving evidence in the trial of claims of unlawful information gathering brought by a group of household names against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday.
The publisher strongly denies the claims and is defending the case brought by Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and others.
On Monday, barrister David Sherborne, for the group of high-profile figures, asked Ms English about an article, headlined “How Harry fell in love”, which is one of 14 stories at the centre of the duke’s claim.
The story, which was published in December 2004, reported that the duke had shared details of his relationship with Chelsy Davy around a campfire in Botswana.
In her witness statement, Ms English said that the campfire anecdote was provided by colleague Sam Greenhill.
She said: “Sam told me that one of the people that Prince Harry had spoken with round the campfire got in touch with the newspaper when news of the relationship broke and gave this information to us.
“Prince Harry hadn’t told them who his girlfriend was but had described her so that, when the stories about Chelsy Davy broke, they realised the significance of what they had been told.
“I thought at the time that the tip was from a contact of Sam’s, but now understand it just came in to the news desk.
“I think that Sam gave it to me because he knew that I was new to my job as a royal reporter and thought it might be helpful to me.”
Giving evidence last month, the duke said that those at the campfire with him would not have shared the information with journalists.
He told the court that there “would be a lot more out there” if people whom he described as some of his “closest friends” had decided to speak to the press.
Antony White KC, for Associated Newspapers Limited, suggested to Harry that comments from the duke about him talking about being in love with Ms Davy while at the campfire could only have become known to Mail journalists if someone had told them.
Harry said the information was more likely picked up when he “talked about it on a voicemail” or other communication.
He added: “These three people have never shared anything with anybody.
“If they had, there would be a lot more out there.”
On Monday, Mr Sherborne asked Ms English: “He (the duke) was very clear when it was put to him… that he would not be sharing that information.”
Ms English replied: “All I can say is that he did, and one of those people rang the news desk.”
When asked who it was, she said: “I do not believe that they gave their name, which is not uncommon.”
Ms English said she was “not party” to the phone call to the Mail’s news desk, but that Mr Greenhill passed the information on to her “because he knew I was writing about it”.
Mr Sherborne asked: “Would he (Mr Greenhill) not have wanted to take credit for himself?”
Ms English replied: “No, because that is not how colleagues at the Daily Mail work.
“He is an incredibly kind and helpful colleague.”
Mr Sherborne later asked: “How did you feel comfortable quoting widely from this mystery source… if neither you nor Mr Greenhill knew who they were?”
Ms English said: “I trust my colleagues and trust their judgment.”
Mr Sherborne said: “You had no way of checking the veracity of this apparent caller, who had provided the information that you have put at the front and centre of that story.”
Ms English replied: “My colleague spoke to them, he was quite clear that he believed that what (the source) was telling him was the truth.”
Among the duke’s allegations are that a private investigator called Mike Behr was commissioned to unlawfully obtain flight details and the seat number of Ms Davy for a journey to South Africa, and that he suggested to journalists that they could “plant someone next to her”.
Mr Sherborne asked Ms English about an email from Mr Behr to her and Sun reporter Duncan Larcombe, sent in December 2007, which contained Ms Davy’s flight and seat numbers.
The barrister said the information “could only have been obtained from the computer system” of the airline used by Ms Davy.
Ms English replied: “I do not know how this could have been obtained because it was never asked for and it was never acted upon, and so I cannot speculate because I do not know.”
Mr Sherborne said: “Here you are provided with the exact flight details and seat numbers for Ms Davy. You asked for them, didn’t you?”
Ms English denied asking for the information and also said: “He (Mr Behr) was never asked for anything like this, ever.”
Mr Sherborne said: “He is providing confirmation for something you asked for.”
Ms English replied that she did not remember seeing the email and that the Mail would “never even be interested” in planting someone next to Ms Davy.
Mr Sherborne said: “I suggest to you that this is an example of a number of flight information blags that Mr Behr carried out for you in relation to stories about Prince Harry.”
Ms English said: “I do not accept that.”
The trial before Mr Justice Nicklin is due to conclude in March, with a written judgment expected at a later date.
