- Prince Harry is still in a legal battle
- The court is demanding he reveal certain text messages
- THIS is the scoop
In a twist fit for a blockbuster, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, finds himself in a legal labyrinth that's more gripping than any episode of 'Suits.'
Harry's time of reckoning
The prince, turned author with the publication of his memoir 'Spare', is now under the judicial microscope. The High Court has thrown a spotlight on Harry, demanding he explains the disappearance of potentially crucial messages with his ghostwriter post-'Spare's' release.
The plot thickens as these texts could be pivotal in his ongoing legal feud with the publishers of 'The Sun'.
The court's latest command? Harry must dive deep into the digital abyss to retrieve messages from the encrypted app Signal, spanning from 2005 to the jaw-dropping reveal in January 2023.
The controversy centers around 'Spare,' a memoir that spills royal secrets and personal revelations. But it's not just any tell-all.
The book's references to suspected unlawful information gathering before 2013 have landed Harry in hot water, challenging the timing of his legal actions against News Group Newspapers (NGN).
Anthony Hudson KC, representing NGN, didn't mince words, accusing the duke of creating an "obstacle course" in the discovery process. The court echoed concerns, highlighting a "troubling" void where a treasure trove of documents and confidential exchanges with ghostwriter JR Moehringer once existed.
Now, they're mysteriously missing, vanished between 2021 and 2023. The judge's instructions were clear: Harry's legal team must embark on a digital excavation, scouring texts, WhatsApps, emails, and even the prince's laptop for any remnants of relevance.
David Sherborne, Harry's champion in the courtroom, fought back, slamming the opposition's narrative as a "classic fishing expedition."
The plots get thick
In his oral ruling, the judge described "troubling evidence" that a "large number of potentially relevant documents, confidential messages between the claimant and his ghostwriter [JR Moehringer] of Spare, as well as all the drafts of Spare, were destroyed sometime between 2021 and 2023, well after this claim was under way".
It was not clear "what exactly happened and needs to be made so by a witness statement by the claimant himself explaining what happened to the Signal messages between him and his ghostwriter and whether any attempts have been made to seek to retrieve them", Fancourt added.
"It seems to me inherently likely that in the course of discussing at length the material for the duke’s autobiography, matters would have been said that related to the parts of Spare in which unlawful information gathering in relation to newspapers is discussed."
He defended the duke's efforts, revealing a staggering 150-hour, £50,000 email search operation. Yet, in a twist of fate, NGN's past actions of allegedly deleting "millions of emails" were thrown back in their face, painting a picture of hypocrisy at its finest.
As the saga unfolds, Prince Harry stands at a crossroads, with the court's gaze fixed firmly upon him.
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Ordered to cough up £60,000 in interim legal costs to NGN, the duke's tale of legal woes is far from over. With a full trial looming in January, the world watches, waiting to see how this royal drama will unfold.