Piers Morgan Doubles Down With Prince Harry Rebuke; Harry Prepares For Return To UK
The bad blood between Prince Harry and Piers Morgan shows no sign of evaporating, with the broadcaster responding sharply to news of Harry’s courtroom victory over Morgan’s former employer this week.
Following Harry’s win against Mirror Group Newspapers in London’s High Court on Friday, when he received £400,000 ($500,000) compensation in settlement of his claim against the publisher for damages incurred with having his phone hacked during the early 2000s, Morgan said to reporters outside his house:
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“Invading the privacy of the Royal Family is utterly reprehensible and on that I share Prince Harry’s opinion…I just wish he’d stop doing it.”
On the same day, Morgan wrote in the New York Post that, during Harry’s whistlestop visit to London this week to see his father King Charles following the latter’s cancer diagnosis, he understood why Harry had not been seen by his brother: “William would rather shoot himself than be in the same room as someone he now views as a despicable traitor.”
Morgan has long criticised Harry and his wife Meghan Markle for complaining about intrusion into their private lives, while simultaneously giving interviews, publishing books and documentaries which revealed behind-the-scenes moments of the British royal family.
Morgan, as The Daily Mirror’s editor between 1995 and 2004, was targeted in Harry’s statement read aloud by his barrister, following the Duke’s legal victory:
“Even his own employer realised it simply could not call him as a witness of truth at the trial,” Harry’s statement read. “His contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgement.”
As reported yesterday in Deadline, London’s High Court heard that MGN, which publishes The Daily Mirror against which Harry said he was the victim of more than 140 instances of illegal news gathering, has settled with the prince. MGN will make a costs payment of around £400,000 ($500,000), the BBC reported, with further costs to be assessed.
Harry was by no means the only claimant and there were around 100 others, including the likes of Corrie actors Michael Turner and Nikkie Sanderson. Sources for the claimants told the BBC that MGN’s combined legal bill would be around £2m.
Harry is now back home in the US, where he presented an award in Las Vegas on Thursday. He is expected to return to Britain in May for a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games.
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