Prince Harry: ‘Piers Morgan subjected Meghan and I to horrific personal attacks’

The Duke of Sussex accused Piers Morgan of subjecting him and his wife to “a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation”.

In his witness statement, the Duke added that he felt “physically sick” at the thought of Mr Morgan or his journalists allegedly listening to voicemails left by the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Duke claimed that Mr Morgan, formerly editor of the Daily Mirror, had embarked upon a personal vendetta against him and the Duchess in retaliation for these legal proceedings.

He said: “Unfortunately, as a consequence of me bringing my Mirror Group claim, both myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan, who was the editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004, presumably in retaliation and in the hope that I will back down, before being able to hold him properly accountable for his unlawful activity towards both me and my mother during his editorship.”

The Duke referred to three handwritten letters from his late mother to Michael Barrymore, in 1997. The entertainer had come out as gay and was struggling with addiction, and Diana had offered him her support.

In one of the letters, she spoke of feeling “devastated” that the Daily Mirror had somehow learned about their private meetings. In another letter, she spoke of having “a nightmare time with the tabloids”.

The Duke said in his witness statement that it was “safe to assume” his mother and Mr Barrymore would have exchanged voicemails about these meetings.

He said: “The thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages, in the same way as they have me, and then having given her a ‘nightmare time’ three months prior to her death in Paris, makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behaviour.”

The first letter from Diana, dated in March, said: “I did want to emphasise that I’m here for you whenever – it’s very easy to pop round and see you or please telephone now you have my number, anytime.”

In the second, dated a month later, she wrote: “I was devastated tonight to hear that the Daily Mirror have [sic] been telephoning my office to ask details about six meetings that are supposed to have taken place between us… nobody around me knew of our Sunday evening plan and I would never do anything to cause you any personal distress and it only remains for me to say how deeply sorry I am that what I considered to be a private and precious matter has become public property.”

Previously, Mr Morgan has claimed that he spoke often to Diana in the last 18 months of her life and enjoyed a private lunch with her at Kensington Palace.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Morgan hit back at claims made by the Duke that Mr Morgan’s behaviour towards him and members of his family when he was editor of the Mirror was “vile” and “unjustified”.

Mr Morgan told Sky News he had not heard the Duke’s remarks, which accused him of infringing on the privacy of the Duke’s mother, Princess Diana.

He added: “I wish him luck with his privacy campaign. I look forward to reading it in his next book.”

His antipathy towards the Duchess of Sussex cost him his job on ITV’s Good Morning Britain when, in 2021, he reacted to her interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Of the Duchess’s claim that she had struggled with suicidal thoughts during her time in Britain but received no help from the Palace, Mr Morgan said on air: “I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.”