Prince Harry says he won’t bring Meghan back to the UK over safety fears

In the Tabloids on Trial documentary, Prince Harry was asked whether his determination to fight the tabloids destroyed the relationship with his family.

Harry replied: “Yeah, that’s certainly a central piece to it.

“But, you know, it’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press.

“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done.

“It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family.”

He stressed that those in a public role should do things for the greater good.

“I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good,” he said.

“But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons.”

Prince Harry is set to break his silence on his phone-hacking court battle with the tabloid press tonight, as he delves into particular headlines about his personal life.

Looking at a headline from the time about his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy apparently preparing to split with him, the Prince said: “Harry’s girl to dump him – seems as though they knew something before I even did.”

He also says in an ITV documentary airing tonight: “I think there’s a lot of I guess, paranoia, fear, worry, concern, distrust in the people around you, clearly a headline like that has absolutely no public interest whatsoever.

“There’s a big difference between what interests the public and what is public interest, so what happens in my private life between myself and [my] then girlfriend is exactly that, between us.”

MGN said in response to the Tabloids on Trial programme: “We welcomed the judgment in December 2023 that gave the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.

“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid compensation.”

Harry has also brought legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail over allegations it carried out or commissioned unlawful information-gathering, which are all denied by the newspaper group.

They have accused Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records, burglaries to order and accessing and recording private phone conversations.

The legal claims are in the preliminary stages.

Prince Harry revealed he had many conversations with his grandmother the Queen about his battle with the press.

He told ITV: “We had many conversations before she passed. This is very much something she supported.

Pointing to the sky, he said: “She knew how much this meant to me and she’s very much up there going ‘See this through to the end’ without question.”

Prince Harry claims he “will not” bring his wife, Meghan Markle, back to the UK over fears for both their safety. He has told an ITV documentary “it only takes one lone actor [who reads negative stories about Harry and Meghan in the press] with a knife or acid.”

On if he’s seeking attention through the court battles, he said: “There is more than enough attention on me and my wife anyway.

“There was… they pushed me too far. It got to a point where you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.

“They pushed me too far. You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

“I don’t think there’s anybody else in the world that is better suited and placed to be able to see this through than myself.

“It’s still dangerous. And all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff, to act on what they have read…

“And whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is.

“And these are things that are a genuine concern for me.

“It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”

Meghan has not returned to the UK since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022.

As he breaks his silence on his successful High Court case, Prince Harry opened up about his mother’s own experience of phone hacking.

Speaking in a new ITV documentary about whether the hacking made him paranoid he said: “I think paranoia is a very interesting word because yes, then it could be paranoia, but then when you’re vindicated it proves that you weren’t being paranoid. You know, same with my mother.

“You know, there is evidence to suggest that she was being hacked in the mid-nineties, probably one of the first people to be hacked and yet still today, the press, the tabloid press very much enjoy painting her as being paranoid.

“But she wasn’t paranoid, she was absolutely right about what was happening to her. And she’s not around today to find out the truth.”

The Duke Of Sussex was shown video footage of him immersed in flashing cameras as he tried to get into a car after a night out.

He said: “In those days the paparazzi was something else.

“I remember that night out I remember being hit over the head by cameras.

“My security did everything to keep them away.”

He added: “It feels horrible then and it feels horrible now.”

Harry won a legal battle against the tabloid press last December as it was ruled he had been a victim of phone hacking.

Prince Harry told ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial: “Yeh I did feel vindicated. Phone hacking has been going on for a long time. The defendants claim for it all to be historical.

“Well, there’s a huge amount coming to light now that the British public especially simply have no idea about.”

He added on their tactics: “Well there’s voicemail interception, blagging of flight records.

“It was always referred to as phone hacking but it’s the unlawful information gathering, and use of private investigators that was really the secondary part to this.”