Prince Harry’s new lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, alleging illegal phone-tapping and an array of other invasive reporting practices, may offer him a sense of vindication over a U.K. tabloid that regularly criticizes him and his wife, Meghan Markle.
But the lawsuit, filed by Harry, Sir Elton John and a group of other notable U.K. figures, could do serious damage to the royal family’s long and sometimes difficult relationship with the U.K. media, according to unnamed former journalist with the Daily Mail.
“Harry and Meghan have frequently made it clear that they despised, and indeed almost considered corrupt, the sometimes cozy relationship between the palace and the British tabloid media,” the former staffer told the Daily Beast Thursday.
Whether that relationship is “cozy” is a matter of debate. Harry and Meghan definitely think so, as they told Oprah Winfrey in their bombshell 2021 interview. The Duchess of Sussex said Buckingham Palace hosted holiday parties for reporters from the tabloids — an allegation that was refuted at the time by reporters for those publications.
Harry characterized the relationship between his family and reporters as “an invisible contract.” The Guardian in 2016 described an uneasy truce, in which the family offers limited but orchestrated public exposure in return for privacy for themselves and their children when they aren’t out in public.
This truce developed in fits and starts following the 1997 death…
