Prince Harry is set to give a bombshell interview in a new documentary on phone hacking.
Sky News host Rita Panahi says Prince Harry has been accused of “deliberately destroying evidence” in his phone hacking case.
“The judge overseeing the case agreed with News Group newspapers that there was troubling evidence,” she said.
“That a large number of potentially relevant documents and confidential messages between the Duke and the ghost-writer of Spare were destroyed sometime between 2021 and 2023, well after his claim was underway.”
ITV announced the Duke of Sussex, 39, will appear in Tabloids on Trial slated for July 25 at 9pm, releasing the news on the eve of the ex-working royal’s Pat Tillman Award acceptance ceremony.
Royal editor Chris Ship said in a post to X on Wednesday Harry would tell health correspondent Rebecca Barry “why he is fighting to expose” the phone hacking scandal from the mid-1990s through to the mid-2010s.
Prince Harry will reveal why he is really fighting to expose the alleged illegal activities of Britain’s biggest tabloids in a bombshell new phone hacking interview with ITV. Picture: X
The Duke donned navy suit and white unbuttoned shirt for the interview. Picture: X
Barry said programme insiders have been “busy” working on the tell-all.
“Excited for you all to see this ITV documentary about phone hacking that we’ve been busy working on… I interview Prince Harry – plus others who found themselves catapulted onto the tabloid front pages,” she said on X alongside new photos.
In the photos, the Duke appeared to be serious, donning a navy suit, white unbuttoned shirt and black loafers.
Their discussion is Harry’s first major interview since he commenced legal action against Britain’s Mirror Group Newspaper and News Group Newspapers (NGN) in 2011.
It explores “what those in charge at Fleet Street really knew as this scandal unfolded”.
‘To Di For’ podcast host Kinsey Schofield says the judge in Prince Harry’s phone hacking case called the Duke of Sussex’s lack of documentation a “cause for concern”.
Prince Harry has been accused of “deliberately destroying” communications with the ghostwriter of his shock memoir Spare, with the Duke ordered to search for the potential missing evidence in his lawsuit against British tabloids.
“Now, Harry’s team calls these accusations a transparent, old-fashioned fishing expedition but the reality is they’ve got to try to find these conversations,” Ms Schofield told Sky News host Rita Panahi.
“They’ve got to try to find these passages, or it will jeopardise Prince Harry’s case against The Sun.”
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The interview revelation comes two weeks after King Charles’ youngest son was court-ordered to search for “deliberately destroyed” potential missing evidence in his lawsuit where he seeks to sue NGN.
In the cases’ preliminary hearing, he was ordered to carry out wider searches for emails, text messages and other materials, and wacked with a hefty legal bill of £60,000.
Judge Timothy Fancourt said it was troubling all communications between the ex-working royal and his ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer over messaging app Signal, along with drafts of bestselling memoir Spare, were destroyed.
Mr Fancourt said it was likely Harry and Mr Moehringer chatted about issues related to alleged unlawful behaviour by the newspapers.
NGN’s lawyers sought an order to force Harry, his lawyers or the royal household to disclose any possessed relevant information which would indicate how he knew about the alleged unlawful behaviour before 2013 – six years before he sued in 2019.
It’s notable because older communications and even those up to the 2023 publication of the Duke’s memoir could provide evidence he was aware of the unlawful information gathering years earlier – effectively throwing out the case on the grounds it was filed too late.
The trial is slated for January.