Jeremy Clarkson's attack on Meghan cited in Harry's court case

Jeremy Clarkson's attack on Meghan Markle has been cited in Prince Harry's phone hacking court case against the tabloid press. Harry told the High Court it was the attacks on his wife Meghan that spurred him on and was evidence of the tabloid culture. Although he has not appeared in the High Court this week, he has sent a 31 page witness statement to support his case against publishers of The Sun and the former News of the World.

In the statement, he has made a series of bombshell claims This includes a claim that Prince William received a large payment from the company in 2020 as compensation for his phone being hacked. But NGN has asked Mr Justice Fancourt to throw out claims relating to himself arguing they have been brought too late.

READ MORE: King Charles III's Coronation: Jets involved in flypast to disperse over Gloucestershire Lawyers for Harry argue that this is because he was kept in the dark for a long time and there was a "secret deal" between the group and the Royal Family which agreed members would not pursue claims against NGN until after the conclusion of the litigation over hacking. In documents filed to the high court, he calls the royals the Institution and says they blocked anything that might "upset the applecart" in respect of the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch.

According to him, this was because the royal household had a long term plan to ensure his father, King Charles, and Charles' wife, Queen Camilla, to have a smooth accession to the throne.

He says he was repeatedly assured that it was being resolved behind the scenes. But he says after an attempt to get the case resolved before his wedding in 2018 failed, he hired his own lawyers. Although it was agreed royal correspondents would not enter St George's chapel on his wedding day, he claims he was told NGN was not in a position to offer the apology he sought "because it would seriously undermine their settlement strategy across all the other claims".

The Duke claims his mental health problems were exacerbated by the way he was wrongly portrayed in the media but says when the tabloids began to cover details of his romance with Meghan Markle, he decided to act on his own and hire lawyers. He wrote that over the past six years, "my wife has suffered so greatly at the hands of the tabloid press". According to the Daily Telegraph, he cites the hugely controversial Jeremy Clarkson column referencing Game of Thrones which said Meghan should be paraded naked through the streets and pelted with excrement, as an example of her treatment.

Although nothing to do with hacking, he describes it as "one of the most misogynistic and vile columns ever written". Clarkson has since apologised for the comment piece he wrote in The Sun which led to an uproar and calls for him to be sacked. Prince Harry, also known as the Duke of Sussex, said when he did go to court over the hacking claims in October 2019, Buckingham Palace told him to drop the case on the orders of his father and senior courtiers.

He says he later found out he was being kept in the dark. His lawyers claim NGN "deliberately concealed" key evidence. Harry is seeking at least GBP200,000 in damages and alleges that The Sun newspaper illegally hacked his voicemails and hired private investigators.

The publisher said the company had already given an "unreserved apology" to victims of voicemail interception at the News of the World but would fight claims that sought to involve The Sun.

The Judge will decide if the case can continue

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