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| Prince Harry appeared last month for a claim against another newspaper group, in one of several legal battles |
Prince Harry's latest battle with the tabloid press once again shows how personal this is for him.
With the claims about his brother, Prince William, it's as much a family drama as a courtroom drama.
And despite the huge financial risks and the emotional grind, Harry's keeping going.
The
court documents published alongside the phone-hacking claims allege
that Prince William had already reached a financial settlement with News
Group Newspapers, publishers of the Sun and the former News of the
World.
Harry's
memoir Spare was a raw and often angry account of his fractious
relationship with his brother - and this could almost be another
chapter, appearing to set them apart.
This
current hearing, set for three days, isn't a trial, with witnesses and
testing of evidence. It's an attempt by the newspaper group to strike
out the hacking claims of Prince Harry and film star Hugh Grant before
they even reach a trial.
So
these claims about Prince William having "settled for a very large sum
of money in 2020" remain the assertions of one side of the court case.
There
hasn't been a confirmation or denial, with the Prince of Wales's
spokesman saying there wouldn't be a comment on an ongoing legal
process.
But
it's understood from sources that any suggestion of a cosy deal between
Prince William and newspapers over hacking would be wide of the mark
and that he had been vigilant about wanting to tackle it.
It was Prince William who had raised the issue of voicemail hacking back in 2005 and he has had his own battles with the press.
Sources
also highlighted that a settlement can often be something pushed by the
courts, rather than something pursued by a claimant.
But
either way it will play into the royal soap-opera narrative of two
brothers on opposing paths, only a short while before Prince Harry is
due to return to London for his father's coronation.
This
struggle with the attentions of the press seems emotionally hardwired
into Prince Harry's story, a malign and ever-present character in his
book and Netflix series.
In
the latest court claims, the tabloids are personified by Prince Harry
as the "third party" in his relationships, in a way that almost has
echoes of his mother.
"At
no point did I have a girlfriend or a relationship with anyone without
the tabloids getting involved and ultimately ruining it, or trying to
ruin it, using whatever unlawful means at their disposal," says the
prince's witness statement.
His
legal papers depict him as wanting to keep pursuing the excesses of the
tabloid press, while his family are more worried about being dragged
into a public fight and the embarrassing details that could follow.
News
Group Newspapers have argued that it's too late to bring this case and
they want the judge to throw out these claims, which they reject, before
it even comes to a full trial.
They
have also rejected the "extreme vagueness" and "flatly inconsistent"
claims that there was a secret agreement between Palace officials and
the newspaper group about handling royal claims over phone hacking.
The judge will decide whether the case will proceed further.
But
this is one of a series of legal battles against newspaper groups being
pursued by Prince Harry, who has described changing the UK's media
landscape as his "life's work".
