Prince Harry has launched a fresh attack at his father King Charles III in new court documents released just ahead of next week’s coronation.
King Charles III has once again found himself under scrutiny after his son, Prince Harry, accused him in court documents of attempting to prevent him from suing the owner of a tabloid newspaper.
Harry is currently engaged in a legal battle with Rupert Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers over claims its UK publication The Sun illegally hacked his voicemails, as well as hired private investigators to “blag” private information about him and his family in the early 2000s.
The newsgroup has meanwhile claimed that Harry has run out of time regarding the accusations, alleging that they are too far in the past to be actionable.
However, according to a report by the BBC, the British Prince now claims that the reason he did not take the case earlier was because his family — including his father, who is now the king — demanded that he not do so.
In the document, Harry claims that members of his family had indeed planned to take the newspaper owner to court, but opted not to after coming to an agreement with those within The Sun.
Under the alleged ceasefire deal between the two parties, the Royal Family agreed to delay bringing proceedings against the company in exchange for a promise that the issue would be settled out of court, an arrangement that would reportedly save the royals the reputational damage of having to appear in the witness box.
However, by 2018, Harry claims that he had grown frustrated with the lack of developments, and wanted to reportedly “force a resolution” to the issue.
Such a desire to bring the issue to a close was actually supported by the late Queen Elizabeth II, who Harry claims gave the green light for royal staff to once again pressure News Group Newspapers with legal consequences if they did not stick to their word.
An attempt by Harry to actually bring them to court was ultimately said to have been blocked by then-Prince Charles.
“I was summoned to Buckingham Palace and specifically told to drop the legal actions because they have an ‘effect on all the family’,” Harry reportedly said. “This was a direct request (or rather demand) from my father, Edward Young [now Private Secretary to the king] and my father’s private secretary, Clive Alderton.”
Harry’s suggestion that his father tried to interfere in his legal battle is likely to only ratchet up internal tensions within Britain’s royal family, with relations already being on a knife-edge ahead of Charles officially being formally crowned king next Saturday.
There had been hopes that tensions were easing slightly between Harry and the rest of the royals, with the Prince’s decision to attend his father’s coronation being seen as a de-escalation of hostilities between the pair, even if such a detente was not extended to Harry’s wife, Meghan.
Such peace efforts appear likely to have been scuttled now, with further damage also likely being done to the relationship between Harry and his brother, Prince William, who is also mentioned in the court documents as accepting a settlement from News Group Newspapers over alleged hacking.
While the exact value of this settlement is unknown, The Telegraph reports that it may have been in the region of £1 million (~$1.25 million).
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