Press intrusion was ‘main factor’ in why Chelsy left him, he says
THE duke blames the Press for Chelsy Davy dumping him after she decided that ‘a royal life was not for her’, the High Court was told yesterday.
He claimed in his witness statement that ‘whenever’ he has been in a relationship, the woman ‘is not just in a relationship with me but with the entire tabloid press’ who try to ‘ruin it’.
Harry and Zimbabwe-born Miss Davy, his first serious girlfriend, met in early 2004 and were in an ‘on-off’ relationship until mid-2010.
Harry alleges that the Daily Mirror must have used phone hacking when it followed up The Sun’s story about the infamous time he dressed as a Nazi aged 20 at a fancy dress party in 2005.
The Mirror article alleged he had flirted with a ‘stunning brunette’ at the party and Miss Davy, then 19, was ‘furious’, rang him at his father’s Highgrove home and gave Harry ‘a tongue-lashing down the phone’.
One source told the paper the brunette was ‘sitting on Harry’s lap wearing flesh- coloured tights and a very short black dress’ and ‘flirting with the prince and flaunting herself’.
Harry said in his statement that he does not remember whether Miss Davy and him did argue about the party.
The article contained quotes from ‘friends’ or other ‘partygoers’, 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 yesterday, Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), said there was nothing unlawful about the Mirror reporter, Jane Kerr, speaking to guests at the party. Harry replied: ‘No, if that’s indeed what she did.’
Mr Green also suggested that Miss Davy’s uncle Paul Davy was a source, and that quotes about how it ‘can’t be long’ before Miss Davy dumped Harry were ‘a partygoer speculating’ on what the end result might be.
The barrister asked Harry if he would agree it was ‘in the realm of total speculation’ to say the story had involved phone hacking. The prince replied: ‘No I wouldn’t.’
Harry also said in his statement that his solicitors have shown him call data showing calls from the Mirror to his ‘associate’ Guy Pelly’s mobile phone two days before the story was published. The duration of the call was ‘null’, which Harry said he was told is ‘indicative’ of hacking.
When Mr Green asked him if had considered calling Mr Pelly as a witness, Harry replied that he ‘would want to spare most of my friends from this
‘Feeling of being under surveillance’
experience’. The prince also said in his witness statement that he was ‘at a complete loss’ 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 was aware that Paul Davy gave an interview about the visit, which was published in the Mail on Sunday the day before. Harry replied: ‘No.’
Harry also claimed there must have been ‘blagging’ to find out details of when he was flying back. But Mr Green suggested that was ‘the sort of information that Paul Davy, who was happy to speak to the Press, might have provided’. Harry said Paul Davy would not have known that information.
The prince told how media stories put a strain on his and Miss Davy’s relationship and they started to ‘distrust everyone around us’. He said the couple had a ‘feeling of being under surveillance all the time’ and that he believes ‘Chelsy found this even more difficult to deal with 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 for me at the time,’ Harry added.
The newspaper publisher denies Harry’s claims against it.