Prince Harry revealed the truth behind reports that he and Prince William were at odds over how to handle a former member of their mother's staff during a High Court trial. As the Duke of Sussex discussed a tabloid report during the phone hacking trial as part of his ongoing legal battle against a UK publisher accused of having obtained information on the royal illegally, he provided a December 2003 article published by an MGN title which detailed his personal objections to meeting with Paul Burrell. Paul was Princess Diana's butler from 1987 up until her death in 1997.
It was reported earlier that Prince William sought to meet with Paul Burrell in order to stop any distressing revelations about his mother. But Prince Harry was resolute in staying away from the person willingly telling Diana's secrets to the world, the reports had then claimed.
Read more: ‘People are wrong. My mother wasn't…’: Prince Harry's strong statement on Diana
“The article accurately sets out the position that my brother was open to fixing a meeting with Paul [Burrell] to discuss his ongoing exposés about our mother. However I had made up my mind about the kind of person I thought Paul was and was firmly against meeting him at this point in my life. To the best of my recollection, I do not believe a meeting went ahead in 2003,” Prince Harry said.
Referring to the disagreement with William, Prince Harry also disclosed that: "Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscrete Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother's possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her. We firmly believed that she would have expected some privacy in death, especially from someone she had trusted, and we were so upset at the way he was behaving—I didn't want to hear his reasons for it. Therefore, our disagreement over to how to handle the situation going forward was not something I wanted splashed across the Defendant's newspapers."
{{/usCountry}}Referring to the disagreement with William, Prince Harry also disclosed that: "Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscrete Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother's possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her. We firmly believed that she would have expected some privacy in death, especially from someone she had trusted, and we were so upset at the way he was behaving—I didn't want to hear his reasons for it. Therefore, our disagreement over to how to handle the situation going forward was not something I wanted splashed across the Defendant's newspapers."
{{/usCountry}}He then added that he had "no idea" how journalists would have obtained the information used in the article. When questioned on the witness stand regarding contradictory accounts, Prince Harry conceded, “I cannot remember whether I wanted a meeting or not.”
This is not the first time Prince Harry revealed that he and William were opposed on important matters.