Prince Harry and Wife Meghan
The Duke of Sussex has begun legal action against the owners of the Sun, the defunct News of the World, and the Daily Mirror, in relation to alleged phone-hacking.
Documents have been filed on behalf of Prince Harry over the alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
His wife Meghan this week began legal action against the Mail on Sunday.
It is accused of unlawfully publishing a private letter to her father.
A spokeswoman for News Group Newspapers (NGN) – the publishers of the Sun and the News of The World – said: “We confirm that a claim has been issued by the Duke of Sussex.”
A source at Reach, which owns the Mirror, told the Press Association it was aware proceedings had been issued but had not yet received them, so was unable to comment further.
Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, says the presumption is the legal action goes back to the phone-hacking scandal of the early 2000s.
What is the phone-hacking scandal?
Allegations of phone-hacking at the News of the World led to the closure of the tabloid in 2011 and an eight-month trial.
The story dates back to around 2007, when Clive Goodman, the then News of the World royal editor, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator were convicted of intercepting messages left for royal aides and subsequently jailed.
The technique saw journalists hack into voicemail messages of celebrities by using a default factory-set PIN number and subsequently use the information to write news stories.
Princes William and Harry and the then Kate Middleton were all named among the victims in the 2011 trial, which led to a public inquiry.
One journalist pled guilty to phone-hacking at both the News of the World and the Sunday Mirror while a judge in a civil trial against the Mirror ruled that phone-hacking at the paper was “widespread”.
Between them, the two newspaper groups have paid out almost 500m pounds to victims of phone-hacking in settlements and legal costs.
The duke’s fresh legal claim comes just days after he accused the British tabloid press of “relentless propaganda” in a statement announcing his wife’s legal action.
In the statement, which was issued during the couple’s tour of southern Africa, Prince Harry said the “painful” impact of intrusive media coverage had forced them to take action.
Referring to his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, the prince said his “deepest fear is history repeating itself”.
“I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person,” he said.
