Prince Harry tells court he suffered 'huge bouts of depression' due to press intrusion

Prince Harry reportedly suffered "huge bouts of depression and paranoia" due to press intrusion in his life. Harry is suing Mirror Newspaper Group(MGN) over alleged unlawful information gathering by journalists. 

During a court proceeding, Harry's attorney said that his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy decided "a royal life was not for her" as a result of the alleged activities of MGN journalists.

Prince Harry's lawyer- David Sherborne- said, “He became immediately suspicious of anyone named in stories about him and felt that he could not trust anybody, even at such a young age. It also caused great challenges in his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and made him fear for his and her safety.”

“Every time he was in a relationship, or even a rumoured relationship, that whole person’s family, and often their friends, would be 'dragged into the chaos' and find themselves the subject of unlawful activity on the part of MGN. There was nowhere that was 'off limits' for MGN’s newspapers, whose journalists would even manage to book into a hotel in Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, when the Duke of Sussex and Ms Davy tried to escape there and enjoy some peace and quiet,” the court was told.

“They were never on their own, which ‘placed a huge amount of unnecessary stress and strain’ on their relationship," the attorney further added. Harry stated that MGN’s activities led Davy to make the decision that ‘a royal life was not for her’, which led to Harry suffering from depression.

 "They also caused their circle of friends to become smaller and smaller, meaning that friendships were lost entirely unnecessarily, and led to ‘huge bouts of depression and paranoia’,” the court heard.

Prince Harry married Meghan Markle in 2018 and the couple quit their roles as senior members of the royal family in 2020 and moved to the US to live a private life with their two kids.