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- Earlier this week, Prince Harry issued a public letter stating he will take legal action against Daily Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers.
- A private letter from the Sussexes was released, which he claims violates the Data Protection Act of 2018.
- Additionally, Prince Harry is taking two other British press outlets to court, BBC News revealed today.
Update: October 4, 2019
Separate from the Associated Newspapers legal action announced earlier this week, Prince Harry is also suing the owners of The Sun and the Daily Mirror.
BBC News confirmed via Buckingham Palace that documents were filed against New Group Newspapers (publishers of The Sun, the Daily Mirror, and the defunct News of the World) on Harry’s behalf. Prince Harry is accusing them of phone hacking, although it’s unclear what the specifics are or when the hacking allegedly took place.
“The presumption is this goes back to the phone-hacking scandal of the early 2000s,” said BBC’s royal correspondent Jonny Dymond.
This doesn’t involve the letter from the Daily Mail case reported earlier this week.
Original story: October 1, 2019
It’s no secret that the British press has demonized Meghan Markle for a number of things. They’ve criticized her parenting style, made rude comments about her choice of clothing, and called her insensitive and callous many, many times. Sources have said that Meghan is stressed out by all the bad press she’s received before and says it does affect her state of mind, but of course, that hasn’t put a stop to it. So now, Prince Harry is seeking legal action against one of the biggest offenders—Associated Newspapers, the publisher of Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday in the UK.
In a statement on the Sussexes’ official website, Harry announced that he will be going after Daily Mail’s publishers for the misuse of private information, infringement of copyright, and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018. In his heartfelt statement, Harry outlines why he has chosen to take legal action now and says the British media has dehumanized and commoditized Meghan in a way that’s alarmingly similar to his late mother, Princess Diana. According to Harry, Meghan is now falling victim to those same forces, so he is taking legal action as a way to protect her.
He wrote:
“Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences—a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.
“There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face—as so many of you can relate to—I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.
“It is for this reason we are taking legal action, a process that has been many months in the making. The positive coverage of the past week from these same publications exposes the double standards of this specific press pack that has vilified her almost daily for the past nine months; they have been able to create lie after lie at her expense simply because she has not been visible while on maternity leave.”
Harry believes Meghan has been bullied and fears she will succumb to a fate similar to his mother’s, which is heartbreaking.
His statement continued:
“There comes a point when the only thing to do is to stand up to this behaviour, because it destroys people and destroys lives. Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people. We all know this isn’t acceptable, at any level. We won’t and can’t believe in a world where there is no accountability for this.
“Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Harry concluded his letter by thanking the general public for standing by their side in these difficult times. “We thank you, the public, for your continued support,” he wrote. “It is hugely appreciated. Although it may not seem like it, we really need it.”
