Britain’s Prince Harry must explain to a judge why letters he exchanged with his memoirist were destroyed. The Duke of Sussex was also instructed to try to retrieve the letters, British media reported during a hearing in his case against British publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN).

This relates to text messages, emails and messages on apps such as WhatsApp and Signal between 2005 and 2023. NGN notes that the last three years in particular could be relevant to the case, as Harry is said to have written in his book that the newspapers had already obtained unauthorised information from the publisher before 2013. A claim for damages in these types of cases must be made within six years and Harry only went to court in 2019. In that case, the prince would be too late.

The British prince is one of more than forty people who have sued NGN because newspapers incorrectly obtained information about them. Harry alleges, among other things, that British newspaper The Sun hired private investigators in 2016 to pursue his wife, Meghan. He also claims that similar situations occurred with his mother, Princess Diana, in 1994 and 1995.

NGN has tried to delay the matter before. The publisher filed a motion this spring to determine whether the plaintiffs had filed their charges within the time limit. The judge denied that motion, saying the additional case would cause further delay and costs.