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Prince Harry’s Deleted Texts Will Be Explained in Privacy Case and ‘It Will Destroy’ Him
The judge demanded answers. During a hearing in London on June 27, lawyers for NGN, publishers of U.K.’s The Sun newspaper, accused Prince Harry of “obfuscation” during his phone-hacking lawsuit against them, alleging that the duke “deliberately destroyed” evidence, including hundreds of texts and emails.
English High Court Justice Timothy Fancourt agreed that there was “troubling evidence” that some confidential messages were destroyed “well after this claim was underway,” and called it “a real concern” that Harry himself had been the one to search for the relevant documents at his Montecito, California home.
It’s “rather remarkable,” Justice Fancourt added, that so few have been handed over so far. Harry, the judge ordered, needs to do everything he can to turn over the texts and emails or explain to the court “what exactly happened.”
Harry’s lawyers insist he already went “above and beyond his obligations” to retrieve any relevant evidence. “But it seems like the judge isn’t buying it. This reeks of a cover-up,” a source tells In Touch.
Harry’s attorney David Sherborne did acknowledge that many of Harry’s texts, especially ones pertaining to his 2023 memoir, Spare, were deleted because they contained “highly sensitive information about Harry and the royal family, which if leaked, would not only compromise his security but also be potentially damaging to [him] and his family.”
Or is Harry solely protecting his wife, Meghan Markle, who sources say was involved in the penning of Spare? “The world will find out soon enough,” says the source. “It’s only a matter of time before the evidence is retrieved — if it hasn’t been already — and it will destroy Harry.”
Prince Harry’s Confidential Information
Not only did Harry allegedly delete drafts of Spare, but also a trove of messages between him and ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer — who has said they “texted around the clock” while working on the memoir — were erased from the Signal messaging app. After the bestselling tell-all was published in 2023, Moehringer wrote in The New Yorker that they left out “a thousand things,” and Harry, 39, confirmed they’d cut 400 pages.
“There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother and to some extent between me and my father,” he said, “that I just didn’t want the world to know, because I don’t think they will ever forgive me.”
But if the past year-and-a-half has proved anything, it’s unlikely that Prince William and King Charles will forgive him anyway. “They have basically cut him out of the family entirely because of what was published,” the source points out. “So you can only imagine what private information he didn’t include about them that is in those messages.”
And it’s not just the royals who could be hurt if they see the light of day. “Read in this context, there could be inconsistencies in his stories that might shred his credibility,” says the source, adding that Meghan, 42, won’t be immune either. “She was there by Harry’s side for every moment while he was writing the memoir during the pandemic and even helped edit the manuscript. She was a big motivation for him to set the record straight.”
Meghan was the first to hint that someone in the royal family questioned the color of her children’s skin, and later admitted to cooperating with Omid Scobie for his book Finding Freedom. And an accidentally released Dutch edition of his 2023 book Endgame seemingly outed Kate Middleton and Charles as the culprits.
“When people read about what really went down, Meghan and Harry were forced to deny that they ever accused anyone of being racist,” the source points out. “If Harry’s deleted messages include Meghan attacking the royal family, especially Charles and Kate, who are both battling cancer, it would be disastrous for her image.”
The Walls Are Closing In on Prince Harry
It’s the worst possible timing. The duchess has already taken the brunt of the blame for the couple’s fraught post-Megxit business ventures, and is currently preparing to launch her new American Riviera Orchard brand. “Of course, Harry would want to protect her from more backlash,” says the source. “Also, if messages show she had a huge hand in directing the narrative of Spare, that would be explosive.”
Harry and Meghan are up against it — again. Since leaving the royal family in 2020, the pair have waged multiple public wars, including 10 lawsuits against various media outlets and the British government, spending millions on lawyers.
Justice Fancourt also ordered Harry to pay his opponents in the NGN phone-hacking case roughly $76,000 in legal fees. “This time, his crusade for justice may backfire on him,” says the source, adding that the looming threat of Harry and Meghan’s secrets being exposed only compounds the other stresses they’re facing.
“Their marriage was already strained,” says the source. “This is the last thing Harry and Meghan needed right now. They might not be able to survive another scandal.”
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