Chelsy Davy, ex girlfriend of Prince Harry, decided royal life ‘wasn’t for her’ due to press intrusion, court documents claim.
Ms Davy, now 37, had an on-off relationship with Harry over a period of several years in the 2000s.
Prince Harry and other high-profile figures’ claims against Mirror Group Newspapers allege unlawful information gathering.
And the claimants’ barrister David Sherborne has said such activities, including alleged unauthorised accessing of Harry’s voicemails, caused “great challenges” in his relationship with his former girlfriend.
Chelsy Davy and Prince Harry news
Documents filed to the High Court in support of the claims say the Duke suffered “huge distress”. It is also alleged “a huge amount of paranoia” was consequently created in his relationships.
Referencing Harry’s witness statement, Mr Sherborne said during yesterday’s (Wednesday May 10) hearing: “Harry became immediately suspicious of anyone named in stories about him and felt that he could not trust anybody, even at such a young age. It also caused great challenges in his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and made him fear for his and her safety.
“Every time he was in a relationship, or even a rumoured relationship, that whole person’s family, and often their friends, would be ‘dragged into the chaos’ and find themselves the subject of unlawful activity on the part of MGN.”
‘Incredibly upsetting’
Mr Sherborne continued by noting the former couple “were never on their own”.
“There was nowhere that was ‘off limits’ for MGN’s newspapers, whose journalists would even manage to book into a hotel in Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, when the Duke of Sussex and Ms Davy tried to escape there and enjoy some peace and quiet. They were never on their own, which ‘placed a huge amount of unnecessary stress and strain’ on their relationship.
A huge amount of unnecessary stress and strain.
“Ultimately, MGN’s activities led Ms Davy to make the decision that ‘a royal life was not for her’. This was ‘incredibly upsetting’ for the Duke of Sussex at the time. They also caused their circle of friends to become smaller and smaller, meaning that friendships were lost entirely unnecessarily, and led to ‘huge bouts of depression and paranoia’.”
Further documents allegedly included MGN admitting there was “some evidence of the instruction of third parties to engage in other types of unlawful information gathering in respect of each of the claimants”.
The publisher added the evidence “warrants compensation”. MGN added: “MGN unreservedly apologises for all such instances of UIG.” An assurance that such conduct will never be repeated was also given.
Barrister Andrew Green admitted MGN used a private investigator to unlawfully gather information about Harry attending Chinawhite nightclub in 2004.
Prince Harry is expected to give evidence to the High Court in June.
ED! has approached representatives for Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy for comment.
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