Prince Harry’s secret alias has been revealed as ‘Spike Wells’.
The royal’s pseudonym came to light after a Daily Mail journalist broke her silence on her early 2000s interactions with the royal in the wake of his failed legal battle against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL).
On Tuesday, the 41-year-old lost his privacy case against ANL, publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, after claiming the company had obtained private information unlawfully.
Justice Matthew Nicklin dismissed all 97 claims, representing the biggest setback in his campaign to hold parts of the media accountable through the courts.
Charlotte Griffiths, who is now Editor at Large of the Mail on Sunday, has shared her account of her brief friendship with the Duke of Sussex in an article published in the Daily Mail after her text correspondence with Harry was made public in the privacy case.
She revealed that, after meeting Harry at a shooting weekend in Hampshire in 2011, Griffiths received a friend request on Facebook Messenger from an account with the name ‘Spike Wells’, along with a text message.
“It’s H… in case u were confused by name and picture!! X,” it read.
The account, which was active between 2008 and 2012, is said to have had 400 friends “including some of the UK’s wealthiest and most glamorous socialites”, The Mirror reported in 2020.
The Facebook account also featured pictures of Prince Harry and his then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, as well as one of “three young men in matching Panama hats, one of whom bore an uncanny resemblance to Harry,” the publication added.
During the privacy trial, the text communications produced as evidence showed that Harry and Griffiths remained in touch after first meeting.
Some of the Duke of Sussex’s messages included terms such as “sugar”, “Griff” and “Miss our movie snuggles”, while the journalist referred to the royal as “Mr Mischief” and “H Bomb”, and mentioned a”fun weekend of naughtiness” in her own messages.
She also provided evidence that their friendship continued into 2012, with the pair both attending a party together the night before Trooping the Colour.
Looking back on what would become a number of texts exchanged between the two, Griffiths claimed in the article that the Harry she met over ten years ago was “very different” to the man she sees today.
“At this point, you are probably wondering why a young royal, known to hate the British Press, ended up letting his guard down so spectacularly with a Fleet Street journalist,” she wrote.
“Firstly, you need to understand that the events I am describing took place a very long time ago. The Harry I met in 2011 was very different from the embittered figure we know today, who moans incessantly about his family’s privacy being invaded while making millions invading his family’s privacy.”
She continued: “He was certainly less pompous and self-entitled in those days. I remember feeling quite sorry for him, at one stage, when he said he felt lonely on Sunday nights when everyone else was coupled up at home eating a Chinese takeaway.”
The journalist also revealed that mutual friends had always considered her someone who could be trusted with confidential information.
“I would never have dreamed of revealing the 15-year-old tale you are reading now (and I must confess that even now I have chosen to leave some of Harry’s fruitier indiscretions out) were it not for his ill-fated decision to thrust it, and inadvertently me, into the public domain by suing the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.skynews.com.au ’
