A lawyer in a London court on Thursday accused Prince Harry of having "deliberately destroyed" documents potentially relevant to his unlawful information-gathering lawsuit against one of Britain's biggest tabloid publishers, though the presiding judge questioned the suggestion.
Newsweek reached out to representatives of Prince Harry via email for comment.
Harry is one of a large number of claimants suing Rupert Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers (NGN) in Britain, publishers of The Sun newspaper and the now defunct News of The World, over historical allegations of unlawful information gathering.
It has been reported that lawyers for the tabloid publisher have requested access to thousands of private communications written by and addressed to Harry, including emails, WhatsApp messages, and text messages from various sources, including members of the royal household and even the ghostwriter of his memoir.
Harry's lawyers described the publisher's request as a "fishing expedition," The Telegraph reported. They told the court that the prince no longer had access to several old email accounts and that communication between the royal and his memoir ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, was lost.
The prince's legal team has, however, detailed a number of ways in which the royal has complied with gathering the requested information. These have included performing a physical search of his California home for relevant items, including hard drives and computers, supplying information from email addresses he has access to, and contacting senior members of King Charles III's staff and the royal household to inquire if they hold any relevant information.
Despite this, the lawyer acting for NGN, Anthony Hudson KC, accused Harry of "obfuscating" and attempting to "create an obstacle course," blocking the publisher from obtaining their desired information, Reuters reported.
"There ought to be proper evidence about this," he said in court on Thursday, per The Telegraph. "Those messages are clearly within his control, even if they have been deleted. That's why we say the search for texts and WhatsApp messages is important.
"It is, I'm afraid we say, another example of the obfuscation in relation to the claimant's case. We say it's shocking and extraordinary that the claimant has deliberately destroyed..."
At this point, Justice Timothy Fancourt, the judge presiding over the hearing, interjected, voicing concern over the lawyer's accusation.
"Well, we don't know what has happened," he said. "It's not at all clear."
David Sherborne, the lawyer acting for Harry in this case, has urged Fancourt to dismiss NGN's extensive disclosure request. The prince's legal team has reportedly already disclosed over 11,000 documents.
Harry's lawsuit against NGN is one of several directed at tabloid publishers accused of obtaining information about his private life through illegal activity to inform stories in their newspapers between the 1990s and 2010s.
NGN previously denied that unlawful activity took place at The Sun.
In July 2023, a judge ruled that Harry could not proceed with claims that his phone was hacked by employees at The Sun. The judge stated that the prince brought the claim too late, falling outside the six-year time limit between a claimant discovering they may have been the victim of unlawful activity and bringing their legal case.
The judge argued that Harry had sufficient information to know he could have brought a claim before the expiration date but didn't.
He did rule, however, that the royal could continue to bring his other claims of unlawful information gathering to trial, including those that journalists engaged in deceptively obtaining information that ended up in print.
NGN's disclosure requests are believed to be in part to seek whether there is evidence that Harry knew he could have brought legal actions on these other claims prior to the six-year expiration date.
Thursday's hearing is one of a number expected to take place before the prince's case goes to trial in early 2025.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about Charles and Camilla, William and Princess Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
