Harry says Palace withheld phone hacking evidence

The Duke of Sussex has accused the royal family of withholding information from him about phone hacking because they did not want him to bring a claim as it would open a can of worms”.

- THOMAS KINGSLEY

In a witness statement submitted before his civil claim against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, Prince Harry said that he was conditioned to accept his family's rule to "never complain, never explain" when dealing with the press.

"The institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking and it was made clear to me that the royal family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms," the Duke said in his statement.

But discussing phone hacking claims against News Group Harry said "I became aware that I had a claim that Newspapers, I could bring" in 2018.

He added: "The institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about NGN's phone hacking and that has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation."

Outlining how he found out other people within or associated with the royal family had brought phone hacking claims against the press, he says: "It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble burst in terms of what I knew in 2020 when I moved out of the United Kingdom."

He went on: "There was never any centralised discussion between us about who had brought claims as each office in the institution is siloed.