When White suggested that former Mail on Sunday royal editor Katie Nicholl was part of his social group, Harry responded: “If the sources were so good and she was hanging out with all my friends, then why was she using private investigators who have been connected to all the unlawful information gathering?”
A Forced Relationship With the Press
The duke acknowledged that he had spoken with reporters and tried to remain polite, but said he felt he had no real choice despite believing they had “commercialized my private life.”
“These are people we were forced to work with, you had to have some kind of relationship with them … knowing who they are, knowing full well the kind of stories they have written about me,” he told the court.
After disputing claims that journalists relied on legitimate sources, Harry appeared close to tears as he spoke about the emotional toll of life under constant scrutiny.
“I think it is fundamentally wrong to have to put all of us through this again when all we were asking for is an apology and some accountability,” he said from the witness stand, dressed in a dark suit.
“It is a horrible experience, and the worst of it is that by sitting up here and taking a stand against them … they continue to come after me.”
Publisher Rejects the Claims
Associated Newspapers Ltd. has dismissed the allegations as baseless, insisting that roughly 50 articles cited in the case were produced using lawful methods and legitimate sources — including close associates willing to speak about their famous friends.
The publisher is expected to identify those sources during the nine-week trial.
Harry’s lawsuit focuses on 14 articles that his legal team argues were the result of unlawful information gathering.
He has suggested that the personal details contained in those stories could only have come from intercepted phone calls or private investigators spying on him.
