Prince Harry’s uncle, Charles Spencer, has called a former Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) employee “pathetic” in response to a tweet she posted about Harry’s ongoing trial against the publishing company.
Harry gave evidence in the case two days earlier this week, becoming the first member of the Royal Family to appear in the witness box in more than a hundred years.
His claim against the newspaper group is over unlawful information gathering, and he alleges that MGN’s employees intercepted his voicemails and used private investigators to ‘blag’ his confidential information.
MGN denies wrongdoing but has admitted one 2004 article about the Duke of Sussex was the product of UIG, something for which they “unreservedly apologise”.
Amanda Platell, now a columnist for the Daily Mail, tweeted after Harry’s evidence had finished: “Is Harry still obsessed with former love Chelsy Davy? Harry mentions her 118 times in court evidence, Meghan just five times. No wonder Meg didn’t show up!”
Harry’s claim against MGN covers the period between 1996 and 2011, years before he met his now-wife Meghan. On the other hand, his on-off relationship with former girlfriend Chelsy Davy occurred from 2004 to 2010.
Charles Spencer Fires Back at Criticism of Prince Harry
Charles Spencer — the brother of the late Diana — responded: “Pathetic […] you have no shame and even less credibility. Last time I caught from you, you were guilty of libelling me, as your employer at [the Daily Mail] agreed.
“Now you’ve put up (by them?) to misrepresent significant legal evidence as if it was something trivial.”
Spencer appears to be referring to undisclosed libel damages paid by Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers over an article claiming he acted in an “unbrotherly, heartless and callous way” towards Diana under the column entitled ‘Platell’s People’.
Spencer wasn’t the only high-profile figure to speak out against Platell’s comments; Dr Evan Harris, formerly a director of Hacked Off and an ex-Liberal Democrat MP, also criticised the journalist.
Princes William and Harry on Thursday hit out at the BBC and journalist Martin Bashir over “the deceitful way” Bashir obtained his explosive TV interview with Princess Diana, their late mother, in which she detailed her troubled marriage to Prince Charles.
Their stinging criticism came hours after an independent inquiry found Bashir had used falsified documents to get his sensational 1995 sit-down with Diana and that BBC leaders had failed to probe how he had arranged it adequately.
William said the deceitful way the interview was acquired had “substantially effect” what his mother said on the air and made “a major offering” to the demise of his parent’s relationship.
He added that the BBC’s oversight failures had “give significantly to her fright, paranoia and isolation” in her last years.
Brands Their Criticism ‘Pathetic
Diana and Charles, the scion to the British throne, carefully annulment in 1996. She died elderly 36 in a high-speed car ram while being chased by paparazzi photographers in Paris the circle year.
“It is my firm sight that this Panorama plan holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again,” William—second in line to the throne—added in a lengthy statement read in person from Kensington Palace.
“It effectively accepted a false narrative which, for over a area of a century, has been commercial by the BBC and others,” he said, noting the tale now “needs to be addressed”.
In his release, William’s younger brother Harry said the enquiry report was “the first pace towards justice and truth” but that the deceptive practices exposed were still widespread today—and had played a part in his mother’s death.
“The ripple effect of a culture of misuse and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” he added.
Harry’s comments echoed those of Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, who blamed the fallout from the 1995 interview for giving to her death nearly two years later.
“She didn’t know who to belief, and in the end, when she long two years later, she was without any real protection,” Spencer said.
Flawed
Retired senior judge John Dyson’s report, said Bashir commissioned faked bank statements that falsely suggested that the security services paid some of Diana’s closest aides to keep tabs on her.
Bashir then showed them to Spencer in a successful bid to convince him to order a meeting between himself and Diana and earn her trust to secure the interview.
“By act as described… Mr Bashir misbehaved and was in serious breach” of the corporation’s editorial guidelines on “straight dealing”, Dyson added.
Questions have long been about how Bashir satisfied Diana on the BBC’s flagship “Panorama” programme, which was viewed by a record 22.8 million people and won several television awards.
In it, she famously said “there were three people” in her marriage—her, Charles and his long-time mistress and now wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles—and admitted adultery.
Bashir, now 58, was little-known then but had a high-profile career on US television networks and interviewed stars such as Michael Jackson.
He returned to work for the concern as belief editor until he stepped down just last week, citing ill health, hours before Dyson’s report was submitted to BBC bosses.
