Prince Harry has risked widening his rift with Prince William as a hearing read an email the duke sent to his brother during a legal battle.
The Duke of Sussex, who is involved in a legal battle against News Group Newspapers (NGN), is demanding to see emails between the publisher of The Sun, and the late Queen’s most senior courtiers.
The duke’s representative said emails showed the late Queen had personally approved threatening the publisher with legal action if it did not respond.
David Sherborne read out a 2017 email from Prince Harry to his brother William and palace aides urging them to chase News UK.
Prince Harry has risked widening his rift with Prince William as a hearing read an email the duke sent to his brother during a legal battle.
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The email accused the publisher of “playing with us”, with the Prince stating: “It has been a year since this started.”
In a reference to his brother, Harry wrote: “W, do you agree?”
The revelation of emails between the royal brothers threatens to further widen Prince Harry’s rift with King Charles and his brother Prince William.
According to Harry’s lawyers, the courtiers Lord Christopher Geidt and his successor Sir Edward Young, held discussions with newspaper executives in 2017 about receiving compensation and apologies “to the entire Royal household including the Queen” for “unlawful activities”, included alleged phone hacking.
Prince Harry has previously claimed Prince William received compensation from the newspaper while he was cut out of a deal
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Prince Harry has previously claimed Prince William received compensation from the newspaper while he was cut out of a deal, a claim dismissed by the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, last year as “improbable”.
Last month, a High Court judge criticised the legal action involving Prince Harry and The Sun’s publisher, describing it as a campaign between “obdurate but well-resourced armies” that is consuming an excessive amount of court time.
Mr Justice Fancourt expressed his concerns in a preliminary ruling, where he resolved disputes between the legal teams for the Duke of Sussex and NGN over amendments to Harry’s pleaded case.
The judge stated: “I have previously indicated to the parties that this individual claim, although it raises important issues, is starting to absorb more than an appropriate share of the court’s resources, contrary to the requirement in the overriding objective to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost.”
Prince Harry’s trial is set to take place in January 2025.
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NGN has previously denied any unlawful activity at The Sun.
Opposing Harry’s application to see more emails, Anthony Hudson KC, for the publisher, said the duke “has known about these types of emails for years”.
He also said it was very “late in the day” to be requesting further searches so close to the trial date which would be “disproportionate, time consuming and costly”.
Hudson instead claimed that the documents sought were “not relevant” and “not necessary to ensure a fair trial”.
