Prince Harry's Lawsuit Branded an 'Affront'

Prince Harry's lawsuit against longstanding tabloid nemesis the Daily Mail is "preposterous and without foundation," according to its publisher.

Associated Newspapers has submitted its defense to allegations brought by the Duke of Sussex and other high profile public figures in Britain.

In the filing, lawyers argued the case was "an affront to the hard-working journalists whose reputations and integrity, as well as those of Associated itself, are wrongly traduced."

Harry's team has argued that the Daily Mail used journalists or search agents who have been shown in other court cases to have used unlawful practices.

The court filing, seen by Newsweek, read: "A recurrent feature of [Prince Harry's] abusive pleading is the allegation that because a particular journalist or search/enquiry agent is alleged to have carried out illegal or unlawful acts while working for another newspaper group that 'demonstrates' (the Claimant's word) 'the unlawful nature of the work carried out for Associated as well.'"

The Mail also put out a statement, released to Newsweek, which read: "The publisher stands by its previous statements that the claims are preposterous and without foundation."

Among his allegations, Harry accused the Mail of damaging his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, leaving him feeling she would be "harassed to death."

"This intrusion was terrifying for Chelsy," he said in a witness statement seen by Newsweek. "It made her feel like she was being hunted and the press had caught her and it was terrifying for me too because there was nothing I could do to stop it and now she was in my world.

"She was 'shaken' and I was really paranoid about trying to protect our privacy. Their behavior and treatment of Chelsy [were] not normal. I was scared that Chelsy was going to run in the opposite direction or be chased and harassed to death."

Harry accused the Mail of "the hacking of my voicemails, landline tapping, blagging, obtaining itemised phone bills, hardwire tapping, and obtaining private flight information for my former girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, amongst other criminal methods, all of which was deliberately undertaken with the purpose of publishing articles about me in the Defendant's newspapers because it made them money."

The Mail's statement read: "The publisher stands by its previous statements that the claims are preposterous and without foundation, and says in its defence submission that the case brought by the Prince and others is 'an affront to the hard-working journalists whose reputations and integrity, as well as those of Associated itself, are wrongly traduced.'

"It says that the stories concerned, many of which were published 20 or more years ago, and not subject to any complaint at the time, were the product of responsible journalism based on legitimate sources."

There will be a case management hearing in the lawsuit later in May.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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