The key people named in Prince Harry’s witness statement | UK News

Prince Harry’s 55-page witness statement features a cast of Royal Family members, household associates and close friends.

Sky News looks at the key players, who they are and how they relate to the phone hacking claims.

Prince of Wales

Harry said he and Prince William “naturally discussed personal aspects of our lives as we trusted each other”.

Although much has been made of the “royal rift” between the brothers in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s relationship, they appeared to be close when they were younger.

Harry’s witness statement the press have “always been very interested” in William because of his position in line to the throne.

He also said that they “naturally discussed personal aspects of our lives as we trusted each other with the private information we shared”.

“We would often speak over the phone and regularly left voicemails for one another containing very private and sensitive information about our private, family and professional lives.

“We would discuss our personal relationships, education and careers as well as social arrangements over the telephone and voicemails.

“I am aware that my brother was also a victim of phone hacking and unlawful information gathering.”

Prince William settled a phone-hacking claim against Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group in 2020.

Prince Harry court case – live updates

Princess Diana

Harry said he and his mother were “obviously very close” and regularly spoke on the phone, particularly when he was at boarding school.

He wrote of feeling “physically sick” at the thought of journalists allegedly “earwigging” into his mother’s private messages in the months before her death.

His witness statement added: “Up until her death in 1997, we were in regular telephone contact when we were not together, especially as I boarded at school.

“Private information relating to me would have been present in voicemails left on her phone by members of my family or the Royal Household.”

Harry’s relationship with the press has been particularly strained over his mother’s death. He blames the paparazzi for the car crash that killed her and as a child he was in the eye of the media storm that followed.

King Charles

Harry and his father were in “regular contact by telephone”, according to the witness statement.

It read: “My private information would have been present on voicemails left on his landline phone by other members of my family or the Royal Household.”

Over the last few years, Harry has revealed a number of details about his relationship with his father.

In the bombshell Oprah interview, he said he felt “really let down” by his father and revealed Charles had stopped taking his calls after he stepped down from royal duties.

In an interview with ITV around the publication of his memoir Harry said his father warned him it was “probably a suicide mission to try and change” the press.

He also accused “certain members” of the Royal Family of getting in “bed with the devil” over their links with the tabloid press.

Frances Shand Kydd, maternal grandmother

Harry said the press “were always interested in her, as they were in anyone that spoke regularly to my mother”.

The press hoped to use her and others to find out information about Princess Diana, him and William, he said.

Mrs Shand Kydd died in 2004 at the age of 68.

Chelsy Davy, a former girlfriend

Chelsy Davy and Prince Harry met in 2004 and dated “on and off” until mid-2010.

Harry said as their relationship was long distance a lot of the time, they relied on communicating by phone and spoke about “all types of personal matters”, often through voicemail.

He described being dogged by paparazzi and reporters and alleged they were “blagging” their travel details by listening to voicemails.

Harry said at the time they could “never understand how private elements of our life together were finding their way into the tabloids”.

That was one of the factors that “led her to make the decision that a royal life was not for her”, which he said was “incredibly upsetting”.

Mark Dyer, or ‘Marko’

Harry described Mark Dyer as a “close friend” and “a key figure in my childhood”. He was a royal equerry, an attendant to the royal household.

He was “privy to lots of private and sensitive information”, Harry said in his statement.

He added that he stopped talking to him for a long period, suspecting him of leaking information to the press because of “paranoia”.

He said it’s due to the publication of information of his whereabouts that only Marko could have known.

Helen Asprey, private secretary

Harry said Helen Asprey was “intrinsically involved in all aspects of my private, family and professional life, and was responsible for making arrangements for me”.

She knew “lots of private information” and he was “in regular phone contact with Helen”.

He added that she “would have also exchanged voicemails with others containing my private information, such as my day-to-day plans and whereabouts”.

Guy Pelly, an entrepreneur and friend of Harry’s

Guy Pelly was a friend of both princes since childhood, Harry said. They spoke regularly about “very private and sensitive things” in both their lives, he said.

Mr Pelly, among Harry’s other friends, became an “instant target” for the press, Harry said: “They weren’t in the public eye, yet they were thrust into it just by being a friend to me.”

His statement says: “My solicitors have shown me call data showing calls from the Defendant to the mobile phone of my Associate, Guy Pelly.”

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Harry’s former private secretary

As private secretary to both princes from 2005 to 2013, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was “involved in almost all aspects of my private, family and professional life”, Harry said.

Harry said he feels “suspicious” about the level of detail journalists managed to glean about Mr Lowther-Pinkerton, referencing an article that included his role as a former SAS commando, his army career and his children.

Alexandra Shan Pettifer (née Legge-Bourke), known as ‘Tiggy’

Tiggy, as Harry affectionately calls his childhood nanny, was his guardian growing up and “played a central role” in his life.

An article about him being asked to be her child’s godfather forms part of the court case; Harry alleged that details attributed to a “palace insider” were likely the result of phone hacking.

Paddy Harverson

Paddy Harverson was King Charles’s communications secretary between 2004 and 2013. Harry details a number of “suspicious calls” made from the Mirror Newspaper Group to Mr Haverson.

Harry said: “He would have been the first to know if something newsworthy about my brother and/or I had occurred good or bad and would, in all likelihood, been the one to have known the most about it.

“If they were accessing his voicemails, it is likely those messages contained extensive information about what actually happened or how it was being handled.”

Read more:
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Thomas Inskip

Harry and Thomas Inskip were school friends and spent a lot of time together, Harry said.

“Thomas and I were in regular phone contact and exchanged frequent voicemails about our education, and our family and private lives,” he said.

Jamie Murray Wells

Another close childhood friend of both princes, Mr Murray Wells founded Glasses Direct and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to business.

His witness statement claims: “There was a call made from someone at MGN to Jamie on 21 July 2006, which seems suspicious.

“It’s appalling to see the reach of the Defendant’s activities and how much they were prepared to spend to gather information and/or photographs of me.”

Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales

After Kate started dating William in 2003, she and Harry would “occasionally” discuss private and sensitive matters over voicemail in addition to making social plans.

The pair appeared to enjoy a close relationship in the early years, with Harry responding to news of William and Kate’s engagement by saying he was “delighted”. “It means I get a sister, which I have always wanted,” he added.

But things appeared to fracture in later years as Harry and Meghan deviated from the royal straight and narrow. In his memoir Spare, Harry recounted a row between Kate and Meghan over bridesmaids’ dresses that left Meghan in tears.

Natalie Pinkham

Harry describes sports TV presenter Natalie Pinkham as a “close friend” who he met in 1999.

“We often left voicemails for one another to make arrangements for where we should meet, and what our plans were,” he said.

Caroline Flack

The late presenter Caroline Flack, who died by suicide in 2020, was also a friend of Harry’s.

“The press were always interested in Caroline because of her job as a well-known presenter,” he said.

The pair briefly dated in 2009, and the presenter was described as “a bit of rough” in tabloid coverage at the time.

Harry repeated this in his memoir Spare, which Flack’s former manager labelled “grotesque” as he criticised him for revealing private details about her.

Prince Harry, 38, is suing MGN (Mirror Group Newspapers), attempting to prove that reporters for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People titles were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators, between 1996 and 2010.

MGN is contesting the claims and has either denied or not admitted each of them.

The publisher also argues that some of the claimants have brought their legal action too late.

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