Intimate messages shared between Harry, Duke of Sussex, and a reporter in the early 2010s have been shared amid a privacy court case.
On Tuesday (31 March), an 11-week High Court trial against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) ended, with Prince Harry previously accusing the tabloid publisher of launching: “An endless pursuit, a campaign, an obsession with having every aspect of my life under surveillance so they could get the run on their competitors.”
The 41-year-old, joined by model Elizabeth Hurley, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and Sir Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, sued ANL over misusing their private information and using unlawful methods to obtain it.
ANL has strongly denied wrongdoing and is defending the group’s claims. The final ruling will be revealed at a later date.
So-called ‘flirty’ messages shared between the Duke and journalist Charlotte Griffiths, 40, between December 2011 and January 2012 were shown during the closing submissions.
In one of the messages, the father-of-two referred to her as ‘sugar’, as reported by The Telegraph.
London High Court was told that Prince Harry added the then-Mail on Sunday journalist on Facebook in late 2011 after meeting at a party.
He allegedly gave the now editor-at-large his phone number and later messaged her saying: “It’s H, incase you were confused by the name and picture!!! X.”
The court also heard that he referred to their ‘movie snuggles’ in a message dated January 2012, and that he signed off another with ‘mwah’ and kisses, the outlet stated.
In the correspondence, Harry made reference to a party at ‘Arthur’s’ which he had not been able to attend.
He wrote: “Just wish I could have been there … especially now that you’re there! Dou ever work?!!…. Hope you’re really well Griff … Miss our movie snuggles!! I’m off comms all week incase u think I’m being rude,keep me posted xxx xxx xxx.”
In an earlier message, Griffiths referred to Harry as ‘Mr Mischief’ and said: “What a fun weekend of naughtiness – can’t we all get up to no good in the countryside every weeked damn it?? Smooches.”
She signed off the message as ‘CG String’ with three ‘kisses’, the court was told.
“What a crowd. Never laughed so much in 24hrs!! Mr mischief? How do I get that title,” the Invictus Games founder typed in response.
“l was surely no worse than anyone else!!”.
He added that he had to ‘make polite conversation with strange people at a dinner last night.begging them for money for charity! Really fun.not.’
The intimate exchange comes months after Harry said that he had only met Griffiths once at a party hosted by a mutual friend, film producer Arthur Landon, as per Hello! Magazine.
The Prince, who stepped back as a working royal in 2020, claimed in January that he cut off contact with the woman after learning she was a journalist.
The court heard how, when he realised she was a member of the press, he ‘had words’ with his friend ‘and that was that’.
Following the conclusion of the court case, the judge said he would be ‘toiling away on the judgment’ full-time after Easter.
However, he failed to give an indication of how long the task may take.
