UPDATE 1/21/26 at 3:50 p.m. ET — After taking the stand, Prince Harry provided a listing of people that he was in “regular contact” with throughout the time frame laid out in the lawsuit.
Harry listed his brother, Prince William, and sister-in-law Princess Kate Middleton within the witness statement, in accordance with People.
The lawsuit covers events from 1996 to 2014, however the Duke of Sussex has since been estranged from William, 43, and Kate, 44, amid family tension.
Original story continues below:
As Prince Harry took the stand in his latest legal bid against British tabloid publications, he revealed how the ordeal has affected wife Meghan Markle.
“By standing up here and taking a stand against them, this has continued to come back after me,” Harry, 41, said while on the verge of tears in his witness testimony on Wednesday, January 21, in accordance with People. “They usually have made my wife’s life an absolute misery, my Lord.”
Harry and multiple other high-profile plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers in 2022, claiming the publishers of the Every day Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online have invaded their privacy.
“These individuals have grow to be aware of compelling and highly distressing evidence that they’ve been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by Associated Newspapers,” a press release stated on the time. “These individuals have been the topic of public interest throughout the course of their careers and private lives. They’re united of their desire to live in a world where the press operates freely, yet responsibly. A press that represents truth, is sourced in reality and could be trusted to operate ethically and within the interests of the British people.”
Harry and Meghan, 44, have lived in Montecito, California, for the whole lot of the legal battle. (The couple, who share son Prince Archie, 6, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, left England in 2020 once they stepped back as senior working royals.)
“Through the course of this litigation, [media coverage has] only got worse, not higher,” Harry added in his testimony on Wednesday. “It’s fundamentally improper to place all of us through all of this again. What’s required is an apology and a few accountability. It’s a horrible experience.”
After appearing in court, Harry further explained why he got involved within the legal battle.
“In late 2016, when my relationship with Meghan, my now-wife, became public, I began to grow to be increasingly troubled by the approach of not taking motion against the press within the wake of vicious persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles concerning Meghan,” Harry said in his witness letter, which was obtained by People. “The situation got worse when she became pregnant and after our son, Archie, was born.”
Prince Harry arrives at court on Wednesday, January 21. Leon Neal/Getty Images
The couple have been candid about facing public scrutiny throughout their relationship.
“I regret believing that because I believe, had I actually seen that that wasn’t happening, I might have been capable of do more,” Meghan said within the couple’s bombshell CBS interview in 2021. “I believe I wasn’t imagined to see it. I wasn’t imagined to know. And now, because we’re actually on the opposite side, we’ve actually, not only survived but are thriving.”
Harry, who has been estranged from other members of the royal family, has since sought a more private life with Meghan in California.
“Harry is so glad living within the private world,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Regardless that he was raised [as a royal], he was never comfortable in that environment. He feels more like himself here. He had this crazy schedule and would come back through the palace gates and couldn’t exit or have a private life.”
Harry can also be involved in multiple other legal battles for his family to have proper level of security every time they return to the U.K. The Duke of Sussex scored a victory in that case earlier this month, meaning he will probably be eligible to receive armed security protection.