Updated April 27th, 2023 at 21:37 IST

Prince Harry accuses Piers Morgan for ''illegally hacking' Diana's personal phone calls

Duke of Sussex Prince Harry blamed British TV personality Piers Morgan for allegedly encouraging the illegal targeting of her mother, Princes Diana.

Reported by: Bhagyasree Sengupta
Image: AP | Image:self
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Duke of Sussex Prince Harry blamed British TV personality Piers Morgan for allegedly encouraging the illegal targeting of her mother, Princes Diana. The youngest son of the new British Monarch King Charles III claimed that Morgan “knew about, encouraged and concealed" the targeting of the erstwhile Princess of Wales when he was editor of the News of the World, The Guardian reported. The prince alleged that journalists working at Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers, obtained private text messages and phone calls of Princess Diana which laid the foundation of multiple sensational stories that were published in The Sun and the News of the World. 

According to The Guardian, the 38-year-old Prince alleged in court documents that the illegal targeting of her mother along with the current British monarch Charles III and his wife Queen Consort Camilla Parker-Bowles was known and concealed by Morgan and other editors in the mid-1990. In the past, the British journalist has denied any knowledge of phone hacking during his time as the editor of the tabloid newspaper. Morgan has been also known for publicly criticising  Prince Harry and his wife the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle. In 2021, Morgan quit ITV’s Good Morning Britain after making slanderous comments about the American actress turned British royalty. 

Harry made these revelations in proposed amendments to his phone hacking case

According to the British news outlet, the UK Prince made these allegations in proposed amendments to his phone hacking claim. The ongoing lawsuit is against Murdoch’s company News Group Newspapers (NGN) which is being heard at the UK high court. In the court documents, he even alleged that some of the notorious British journalists working for NGN have obtained messages from Diana’s secret personal pager. He also claimed that journalists working for Murdoch’s newspaper intercepted personal phone calls and messages that were sent by his father to his stepmother Camilla. 

Things went south, when television presenter Jeremy Paxman, gave out a testimony in which he stated that Morgan once invited him to his place and explained to him how a mobile phone’s voicemail can be hacked. On Tuesday, the UK high court heard Harry’s claim that the press intrusion by outlets like The Sun and other newspapers, was the reason why Princess Diana chose to travel without a police escort, which ultimately led to her demise in the mid-1990s, The Guardian reported. In his testimony, the Duke of Sussex made it clear that he blames the tabloid media for the untimely death of his mother. 

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Published April 27th, 2023 at 21:18 IST