The Duke blames the press for dumping Chelsy Davy after deciding “a royal life wasn’t for her,” the Supreme Court was told today.
He claimed in his testimony that “when” he has been in a relationship, the woman “has a relationship not just with me, but with the whole tabloid press” trying to “ruin it up.”
Harry and Zimbabwean-born Miss Davy, his first serious girlfriend, met in early 2004 and had an on-again, off-again relationship until mid-2010.
Harry claims the Daily Mirror must have used phone hacking when it followed up with The Sun’s story of the infamous time he dressed up as a Nazi at a costume party in 2005 at the age of 20.
The Mirror article claimed he had flirted with a ‘stunning brunette’ at the party and Miss Davy, then 19, was ‘furious’, called him at his father’s house in Highgrove and gave Harry ‘tongue-tied on the phone’ .
The Duke blames the press for Chelsy Davy (right) dumping him after deciding ‘a royal life wasn’t for her’, the Supreme Court was told today
Harry and Zimbabwean-born Miss Davy, his first serious girlfriend, met in early 2004 and had an on-again, off-again relationship until mid-2010.
Harry claims the Daily Mirror must have used phone hacking when it followed up The Sun’s story of the infamous time he dressed up as a Nazi at age 20 at a costume party in 2005
A source told the paper that the brunette was “sitting on Harry’s lap in a flesh-colored leotard and a very short black dress” and “flirting with the prince and showing off herself.”
Harry said in his statement that he cannot remember if Miss Davy and he argued about the party.
The article included quotes from “friends” or other “parties,” but “the details of our telephone communications are not attributed to anyone, so how could the defendant’s journalists know about this,” he added.
In court, Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), said today there was nothing illegal about the Mirror reporter, Jane Kerr, speaking to guests at the party. Harry replied, “No, if that’s what she did.”
Mr Green also suggested that Miss Davy’s uncle, Paul Davy, was a source, and that quotes about how it “couldn’t be long” for Miss Davy to dump Harry was “a partygoer speculating” about what the end result might be are.
The lawyer asked Harry if he agreed it was “in the realm of total speculation” to say the story was about phone hacking. The prince replied, “No, I wouldn’t.”
Harry also said in his statement that his lawyers showed him call records of calls from the Mirror to his ‘partner’ Guy Pelly’s mobile phone two days before the story was published.
The length of the call was “null,” which Harry said he was told is “indicative” of hacking.
Prince Harry leaves the High Court after testifying in London today
When asked by Mr Green if he had considered calling Mr Pelly as a witness, Harry replied that he would ‘spare most of my friends this experience’.
The Prince also said in his testimony that he was ‘completely lost’ to know how some of the details in a 2004 Mirror story about the first time he met Miss Davy’s family were obtained.
Mr Green asked him in court if he knew that Paul Davy had given an interview about the visit, which had been published in the Mail on Sunday the day before. Harry replied, “No.”
Harry also claimed that there must have been a ‘barking’ to learn details of when he flew back.
But Mr Green suggested that this was ‘the kind of information that Paul Davy, who liked to talk to the press, might have provided’.
Harry said Paul Davy wouldn’t have known that information.
The Prince spoke of how stories in the media put a strain on his and Miss Davy’s relationship and that they “began to distrust everyone around us.”
He said the pair felt “surveilled all the time” and that he believes “Chelsy found this even more difficult when she lived in England.”
“Ultimately, these factors led her to make the decision that a royal life was not for her, which was incredibly upsetting to me at the time,” added Harry.
The newspaper’s publisher denies Harry’s claims against it.