Watching your favorite movies abroad? Don’t forget to get your Aeroshield smart DNS to access any geo-restricted content.
It feels like the pot is calling the kettle black, or, in this case, the high king of hypocrites, Piers Morgan, taking aim at Prince Harry with a scathing remark on social media. Following Harry’s legal victory over News Group Newspapers (NGN), Morgan — a man with a phone-hacking scandal hanging over his own head — demanded that the Duke of Sussex issue an apology to the Royal Family for allegedly airing their dirty laundry for profit.
In a post on X, Morgan lashed out at Meghan Markle’s husband, writing: “So ‘moral crusader’ Prince Harry took the cash… will he now be issuing a ‘full and unequivocal’ apology to the Royal Family for his own serious intrusion into their lives for personal financial gain? Or is royal intrusion absolutely fine when HE does it? What a hypocrite…”
Morgan’s fiery tirade comes hot on the heels of Prince Harry’s “monumental victory” after NGN’s admission of guilt, where the publishers of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World confessed to engaging in illegal practices like phone hacking and surveillance. The bombshell apology — a rare moment of accountability from Britain’s embattled tabloid industry — was delivered just as the case was poised to go to trial in London’s High Court.
In its statement, NGN offered a “full and unequivocal apology” to Prince Harry, acknowledging “serious intrusion” into his private life from 1996 to 2011. This included unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working on behalf of the papers. NGN also apologized for intrusions into “the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, particularly during his younger years.” To cap it off, they promised Harry substantial damages, a likely relief given the towering legal fees amassed in this protracted battle.
Morgan’s indignation is eyebrow-raising, to say the least. Let’s not forget that this is the same man whose tenure as editor of the Daily Mirror was marred by allegations of phone hacking. Such allegations followed him for years. In a December 2023 ruling, a High Court judge decided that Morgan was aware of phone hacking during his time at the paper. Judge Timothy Fancourt’s ruling was part of a lawsuit between Prince Harry and others against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
Despite the ruling, Morgan vehemently denied any involvement in illegal activities. “I’ve never hacked a phone or told anybody else to hack a phone, and nobody has produced any actual evidence to prove that I did,” he said.
But the court’s findings painted a different picture. Omid Scobie, a journalist and co-author of the 2020 biography Finding Freedom, testified that Morgan had been “reassured” about a 2002 story on Kylie Minogue and her then-boyfriend, James Gooding, after being informed it came from voicemail interception. Judge Fancourt described Scobie as “a straightforward and reliable witness” whose testimony remained uncontested by MGN.
Morgan’s criticisms of Prince Harry and Markle are nothing new. The broadcaster has built a career on lambasting the Sussexes, frequently questioning their decision to step back from royal duties and relocate to the United States. He’s even called for them to be stripped of their titles as Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The irony here is quite palpable. Morgan’s outrage over Harry’s alleged “intrusion” into the Royal Family’s affairs conveniently ignores his own history of exploiting others for tabloid fodder. While Harry’s Netflix docuseries and memoir Spare may have aired grievances about royal life, they pale in comparison to the systematic and illegal invasions of privacy orchestrated under Morgan’s watch as a tabloid editor.
Prince Harry’s legal victory feels like a watershed moment in his years-long battle against Britain’s ruthless tabloid culture. It’s a fight rooted in deeply personal trauma, as he has repeatedly cited the media’s role in his mother’s tragic death. The NGN’s public mea culpa, including its admission of wrongdoing against Diana herself, simply validates years of allegations made by the Duke of Sussex. As such, Morgan should consider taking a good, hard look in the mirror before throwing stones from his glass house.