Prince Harry has launched legal proceedings against the Sun and the Daily Mirror over phone-hacking claims, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
The move comes just days after his wife, Meghan, lodged a separate legal action against the Mail on Sunday for publishing a private letter she had sent to her father.
Revealed in documents filed on behalf of the Prince which named the defendants as Newsgroup Newspapers Limited – owners of the Sun – and MGN [Mirror Group Newspapers] Limited, the action appeared to escalate the couple's counter-offensive against the tabloid papers Prince Harry believes are responsible for publishing 'lie after lie' about his wife.
Read more: Meghan and Harry head home after dropping legal bombshell
A royal source confirmed Harry had filed claims at the High Court “regarding the illegal interception of voicemail messages” but that as the particulars of the claims were not yet public, there could be no further comment.
A spokeswoman for News Grup Newspapers (NGN) - which owns The Sun and the now defunct News of The World - said: “We confirm that a claim has been issued by the Duke of Sussex. We have no further comment to make at the current time.”A source at Reach plc, which owns the Mirror, said they were aware that proceedings had been issued but had not yet received them, so they were unable to comment further.
Read more: Harry and Meghan criticised over use of private jets for flights to Ibiza
On Tuesday, in an open letter about his wife's legal action, the Duke said: "I've seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. "I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."
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