A Mail on Sunday editor knew the Princess of Wales was pregnant with her first child before the news was publicly announced, but chose not to publish the information because she did not want to “cross a line”, the High Court has heard.
Charlotte Griffiths, who the court was told moved in some of the same social circles as the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, also said she had never hacked a phone or used a private investigator.
The editor at large at the newspaper was giving evidence in the trial of claims brought by a group of household names, including Harry, against the publisher of the title and the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), over alleged unlawful information-gathering.
ANL has strongly denied wrongdoing and is defending the claims brought by the group, which also includes Sir Elton John, David Furnish and Elizabeth Hurley.
On Tuesday, Ms Griffiths told the High Court in London that, days before it was publicly announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales were expecting their first child, the Prince had attended a country house party and told friends that Kate was suffering from morning sickness and would not be attending.
In her witness statement, Ms Griffiths said: “I draw a line between my professional and own personal social life, as compared to my attending events as a journalist.”
She added: “For example, friends invited me to a country weekend in the last week of November/first weekend of December 2012 which both Prince William and Kate Middleton were also expected to attend. William arrived solo on the Friday and explained that Kate was suffering with morning sickness.
“The fact that she was pregnant with their first child would have been big news and St James’s Palace only confirmed it the following Monday because she had to be admitted to hospital. I decided to keep it to myself.
“Geordie (Greig, then editor) found out that I had known and was quite annoyed that I hadn’t reported it to him on the Friday ahead of the Palace statement on the Monday as we would have scooped the rest of the press, but it was information I had learned at a private event and that I was attending in a personal capacity so I treated it as such.
“I missed a scoop to maintain my friendships and because I knew where the line was and had decided not to cross it.”
Ms Griffiths also told the court she interacted socially with Prince Harry a few times, including one occasion when the two of them attended the party where Harry allegedly stayed up all night before having to attend an event related to Trooping the Colour the next morning.
In her witness statement, she said: “I have been told that call records show a call at 2.50am and three text messages at 10.11 being exchanged by me and Prince Harry on June 9 2012 and asked whether I remember what that was about.
“I have never hacked or tapped a phone. The records I have been shown had nothing to do with a story or my job.”
© Samir Hussein/WireImageShe added that she could not initially remember how she got Harry’s phone number, but later remembered that he sent her his number on Facebook in 2011. Ms Griffiths continued: “I do remember that around that date (of the text messages) I had been out at a club night with our mutual friend, Arthur, who then invited me back to his house for an after party.”
She added: “He told me that Prince Harry would let me in if I made it there first. The music was loud and they didn’t hear the doorbell, so Arthur advised me to call and text to be let in.
“That particular night stuck in my mind as I remember it was around the time of the Trooping of the Colour and we all thought it was quite funny that Prince Harry had stayed up all night and said he had to go to that or something related in the morning.”
© WireImageDavid Sherborne, representing the group of household names bringing the claim, asked Ms Griffiths about her friendships with William and Harry. He suggested it was not true that William had told the group at the country weekend that Kate was pregnant, and that she had “invented” the story.
Ms Griffiths said that was “incorrect”. She also denied his suggestion that it was another example of her “making up” connections with the royal family.
Mr Sherborne suggested Ms Griffiths had used private investigators who engaged in unlawful acts to write articles in the claim related to Sir Elton and Hurley. Giving evidence, the journalist said she had sources for the information that appeared in the stories involved.
The trial is due to conclude in March, with a judgment due in writing at a later date.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land.com ’
