Harry and Chelsy details obtained illegally, court told

Intimate details about Prince Harry's relationship with his former girlfriend Chelsy Davy, including their “sleeping arrangements”, were obtained “unlawfully” by the Mail on Sunday, the High Court has heard.

- HOLLY EVANS

An article published in January 2010 contained “granular detail” about their plans as a couple, and even Harry’s “preferences as to where he likes to spend the night”, the duke’s barrister David Sherborne said yesterday.

Other details published in the newspaper included how the Duke of Sussex had given his then on-and-off partner a “set of keys” while they navigated their long-distance relationship.

But Harry’s evidence is “absolutely firm”, and he insisted that only a close friend of his or Ms Davy’s would have known the private information and “would not possibly have betrayed their confidence”, Mr Sherborne added.

Harry, Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, campaigner Doreen Lawrence, the former Lib Dem MP Sir Simon Hughes, and actors Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, are taking legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over alleged unlawful information gathering.

ANL “vehemently” denies the “preposterous allegations”.

The article by Mail on Sunday journalist Katie Nicholl detailed “intimate and specific details” about Harry’s private life, Mr Sherborne said.

The story described how Ms Davy’s friends had said Harry was a regular fixture at her Belgravia home before she left the UK for Christmas.

The court heard that Ms Nicholl’s evidence was that her notebooks indicated she obtained the “minute details” from a man named Garth Gibbs.