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Prince Harry has spoken out about the profound impact of a lack of privacy, which he claims to have experienced “from birth,” detailing the “personal and reputational cost for me, my wife, and our children” incurred through legal battles against “powerful institutions”.
His remarks came during a keynote address in Washington DC on Tuesday, notably coinciding with the announcement of his father, King Charles’s, upcoming state visit to the US.
The Duke, who stepped back from his role as a working royal six years ago, delivered his speech at the IAPP global summit, an event focused on privacy, AI governance, and cybersecurity law.
During his address, he underscored privacy as a “foundational issue” asserting its crucial role in underpinning the “trust, safety and the stability of our societies”.
He added: “Now, my connection to privacy, and the lack of it, begins in a different place than most. From birth.
“You may know that I’ve spent the past seven years in litigation against three media organisations in the UK over their systemic and unlawful invasions of privacy, as well as the cover-up of it, dating back to the early 2000s.”
The Duke of Sussex described the ‘personal and reputational cost’ to him, his wife and his children of taking legal action against media firms (Aaron Chown/PA) (PA Wire)
Harry and other household names including Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John are waiting to hear whether they have won their High Court cases against the Daily Mail’s publisher Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) for unlawful information-gathering, which ANL strongly denies.
The trial, which ended at the High Court on Tuesday, includes allegations of voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception – also known as “blagging” – by private investigators, freelance journalists and ANL staff.
Harry was previously awarded £140,600 in damages by a judge from Mirror Group Newspapers in 2023 for unlawful information-gathering and settled a claim against News Group Newspapers in 2025, receiving substantial damages and a “full and unequivocal apology” for both “serious intrusion” into his private life and “unlawful activities” by The Sun.
In an ITV documentary in 2024, the duke described how his determination to fight the tabloids was a “central piece” in destroying his relationship with his family, with the “rift” in part due to his mission.
He revealed how he wished his family had joined together with him in his campaign.
The duke has had a troubled relationship with his father the King and an ongoing rift with his brother the Prince of Wales, which worsened post-Megxit, and after the duke’s Netflix documentary and his tell-all memoir Spare.
In Washington on Tuesday, Harry insisted, as he addressed the summit from the stage, that his legal fight was “absolutely” worth it despite the “personal and reputational cost” to him, the Duchess of Sussex and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
The duke has had a troubled relationship with his father King Charles III. (AFP via Getty Images)
He described the “worst examples of an industry that too often behaves as though it owns people’s privacy – and feels it gets to decide what constitutes the public interest”.
Harry continued: “Unfortunately, I have come to learn that this exploitation has become normalised.
“That breaches of privacy have morphed into commercial tactics across industries, notably the tech industry with innovations like social media platforms and advances in artificial intelligence.
“As you can perhaps tell, I have nothing to gain from taking on powerful institutions.
“In many ways, it comes at a personal and reputational cost for me, my wife, and our children.
“But is it worth it? Absolutely. Because this is about more than one individual – it is about the systems that shape and influence all of our lives.”
Harry insisted the “current model of technology” was “failing to support progress” and “setting it back” for communities around the globe.