Prince Harry has revealed he experienced the same “paranoia” as his late mother, Princess Diana did during his fight with the tabloid press. The revelation has been teased from a brief ITV clip of his candid sit-down interview for a documentary named Tabloids on Trial.
In the clip, which shows him sitting opposite ITV News correspondent Rebecca Barry, Harry says he felt “paranoia, fear and distrust” in the years before a High Court ruled in his favour that he was hacked by the Mirror Group.
Labelling it a “monumental victory”, he unravels how he felt after the case had concluded. But the excerpt from the interview, set to be broadcast at 9pm on Thursday, July 25, has sparked a response from royal author Omid Scobie, who has penned books specifically about Harry and Meghan.
Taking to X, Mr Scobie, often referred to as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s “mouthpiece”, compared Harry’s use of the word “paranoid” in reference to how his mother felt, with how Prince William later used it.
He said: “When Prince William publicly responded to a BBC investigation that found journalist Martin Bashir had used deceitful behaviour to secure Princess Diana’s Panorama interview, his statement referred to her as paranoid. A very different take to that of Prince Harry.”
In the snippet from tomorrow night’s interview, Harry says: “When you’re vindicated, it proves you weren’t being paranoid”.
In December 2023, a judge ruled that Prince Harry’s voicemails had been intercepted and his private information unlawfully obtained by the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People.
An MGN spokesperson said: “We welcomed the judgement in December 2023 that gave the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago. Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid compensation.”
Prince William touched upon his mother’s mental health in May 2021, when the internal investigation had found she had been tricked into giving a tell-all interview in 1995 with Martin Bashir.
In 2021, William said: “It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said.
“The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others.
“It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.
“But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived.”
