UPDATE 1/21/26 at 3:50 p.m. ET — After taking the stand, Prince Harry provided a list of individuals that he was in “regular contact” with during the period of time specified in the lawsuit.
Harry listed his brother, Prince William, and sister-in-law Princess Kate Middleton in the witness statement, according to People.
The lawsuit covers events from 1996 to 2014, but the Duke of Sussex has since been estranged from William, 43, and Kate, 44, amid family tension.
Original story continues below:
As Prince Harry took the stand in his latest legal bid against British tabloid publications, he revealed how the ordeal has affected wife Meghan Markle.
“By standing up here and taking a stand against them, this has continued to come after me,” Harry, 41, said while on the verge of tears in his witness testimony on Wednesday, January 21, according to People. “And they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery, my Lord.”
Harry and multiple other high-profile plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers in 2022, claiming the publishers of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online have invaded their privacy.
“These individuals have become aware of compelling and highly distressing evidence that they have been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by Associated Newspapers,” a press release stated at the time. “These individuals have been the subject of public interest during the course of their careers and personal lives. They are united in their desire to live in a world where the press operates freely, yet responsibly. A press that represents truth, is sourced in fact and can be trusted to operate ethically and in the interests of the British people.”
Harry and Meghan, 44, have lived in Montecito, California, for the entirety of the legal battle. (The couple, who share son Prince Archie, 6, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, left England in 2020 when they stepped back as senior working royals.)
“Through the course of this litigation, [media coverage has] only got worse, not better,” Harry added in his testimony on Wednesday. “It’s fundamentally wrong to put all of us through all of this again. What’s required is an apology and some accountability. It’s a horrible experience.”
After appearing in court, Harry further explained why he got involved in the legal battle.
“In late 2016, when my relationship with Meghan, my now-wife, became public, I started to become increasingly troubled by the approach of not taking action against the press in the wake of vicious persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles concerning Meghan,” Harry said in his witness letter, which was obtained by People. “The situation got worse when she became pregnant and after our son, Archie, was born.”
Prince Harry arrives at court on Wednesday, January 21. Leon Neal/Getty Images
The couple have been candid about facing public scrutiny throughout their relationship.
“I regret believing that because I think, had I really seen that that wasn’t happening, I would have been able to do more,” Meghan said in the couple’s bombshell CBS interview in 2021. “I think I wasn’t supposed to see it. I wasn’t supposed to know. And now, because we’re actually on the other side, we’ve actually, not just survived but are thriving.”
Harry, who has been estranged from other members of the royal family, has since sought a more private life with Meghan in California.
“Harry is so happy living in the private world,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Even though he was raised [as a royal], he was never comfortable in that environment. He feels more like himself here. He had this crazy schedule and would come back through the palace gates and couldn’t go out or have a personal life.”
Harry is also involved in multiple other legal battles for his family to have proper level of security whenever they return to the U.K. The Duke of Sussex scored a victory in that case earlier this month, meaning he will be eligible to receive armed security protection.
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