Prince Harry hates the tabloid press. According to the British woman For years I bugged him for sensational stories in the papers. And he does not take it. The prince sued. But what exactly does he want to achieve with this?
“Harry is een man met een missie”, zegt een bekende van de prins tegenover Vanity Fair. “Hij wil voor eens en altijd de werkwijze van de pers veranderen.”
Met de zaak die Harry tegen uitgever Mirror Group Newspapers is gestart, is hij naar eigen zeggen níét uit op een fikse schadevergoeding – die hij overigens wel eist. De prins wil dat de manier waarop de tabloidpers hun verhalen bij elkaar schrapen veranderd. “Niet alleen bij journalisten moet er wat veranderen”, zegt de prins. “Maar ook bij iedereen die hierbij betrokken was en er indirect voor zorgde dat dit spelletje maar doorging.”
Harry beweert jarenlang telefonisch gehackt te zijn door medewerkers van roddelkrant The Mirror. Dat begon volgens hem toen hij op de middelbare school zat, en eindigde rond 2010. In de rechtbank vertelde de Britse royal dat hij opmerkelijke dingen heeft meegemaakt die erop hinten dat hij inderdaad is afgeluisterd.
Ontvang meldingen bij belangrijk nieuws over prins Harry
Playboy prince who loves to drink
“As a member of the royal family, you get a certain tabloid role,” Harry explains. “In my case, it was the playboy prince who liked a drink. Of course, with the aim of selling as many newspapers as possible.”
The prince began to act according to the content of those articles. Because if the photo had been black and white, the ‘crime’ might have been committed, Harry says. It caused a downward spiral in his life. “The tabloids have challenged me to exhibit certain behaviour. For them it meant good sales, but it had a detrimental effect on me.”
It also affected his love life. “The tabloids wanted me to be single because it was more interesting. Once I had a girlfriend, they ran articles with lies about my relationship. And often that relationship fell apart because of those stories.”
The mirror says she did not eavesdrop
According to the prince, enough insanity had occurred that he had been bugged. “People told me they left a voicemail, but those never got through. At the time I thought it was something technical, but now the puzzle pieces fall into place.”
Harry also suffered from paparazzi during dinners or vacations. While he was planning his appointments in the strictest secrecy to prevent this. “But the paparazzi were there at the right time, in the right place. In retrospect, I knew: It’s only possible because they bugged me.”
He also read private conversations he had with his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy or his brother William later in the paper. woman He then attributed these quotes to sources from the palace, or to Harry’s friends.
After Harry’s testimony, the other parties are invited to tell their story. Former editor at woman He claims to know nothing about the wiretap. She’s said it before MirrorEditor-in-Chief Piers Morgan added information from palace sources to her stories.
Met echtgenote Meghan Markle spande Harry al meerdere zaken a tegen de media. That deden is on the other wegens smaad.
Photo: ANP
Danja Koeleman is a koningshuisspecialist at NU.nl
Danja volgt voor NU.nl het Nederlandse en buitenlandse royaltynieuws.