Diana's brother Charles Spencer reacts to criticism of Prince Harry - 'Pathetic'

Prince Harry's uncle, Charles Spencer, has called a former Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) employee "pathetic" in response to a tweet she posted about Harry's ongoing trial against the publishing company.

Harry gave evidence in the case over two days earlier this week, becoming the first member of the Royal Family to appear in the witness box in more than a hundred years.

His claim against the newspaper group is over unlawful information gathering and he alleges that MGN's employees intercepted his voicemails and used private investigators to 'blag' his confidential information.

MGN denies wrongdoing, but has admitted one 2004 article about the Duke of Sussex was the product of UIG, something for which they "unreservedly apologise".

Amanda Platell, now a columnist for the Daily Mail, tweeted after Harry's evidence had finished: "Is Harry still obsessed with former love Chelsy Davy? Harry mentions her 118 times in court evidence, Meghan just five times. No wonder Meg’s didn’t show up!"

The claim Harry has made against MGN covers the period between 1996 and 2011, years before he had met his now-wife Meghan. His on-off relationship with former girlfriend Chelsy Davy, on the other hand, took place over six years from 2004 to 2010.

Charles Spencer — the brother of the late Diana — responded: "Pathetic [...] you have no shame, and even less credibility. Last time I heard from you, you were guilty of libelling me, as your employer at [the Daily Mail] agreed.

"Now you’re put up (by them?) to misrepresent significant legal evidence as if it was something trivial."

Spencer appears to be referring to undisclosed libel damages paid by Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers over an article that claimed he acted in an “unbrotherly, heartless and callous way” towards Diana written under the column entitled ‘Platell’s People’.

Spencer wasn't the only high-profile figure to speak out against Platell's comments, Dr Evan Harris, formerly a director of Hacked off and an ex-Liberal Democrat MP, also criticised the journalist.

"FACT - Prince Harry's MGN claim is restricted to 1996-2011. He dated Chelsy Davey fc2004-2009 and only met Meghan in 2016." Evans tweeted.

"FACT: Amanda Platell was a Mirror executive during the period the Claimants allege that executives knew about and concealed unlawful information gathering."

In his witness statement, Harry described the impact press intrusions had on his relationship with Davy.

"We were never on our own and able to enjoy each other’s company away from the prying eyes of the tabloids. This put a huge amount of unnecessary stress and strain on our relationship.

"We could also never understand how private elements of our life together were finding their way into the tabloids, and so our circle of friends became smaller and smaller. I remember finding it very hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia.

"Of course, now that we know that this information was invariably obtained by unlawful means, these friendships were lost entirely unnecessarily, which is a matter of huge regret for me.

"Ultimately, these factors led her to make the decision that a Royal life was not for her, which was incredibly upsetting for me at the time."