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Susanna Reid has defended her former Good Morning Britain co-host Piers Morgan over a comment he made about Prince Harry.
The former senior royal is back in the UK for a trial against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) involving himself and more than 100 other celebrities.
He has accused MGN – publishers of The Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, now owned by Reach Plc – of unlawfully gathering information, such as by phone hacking.
Harry has become the first royal to testify in court for 130 years in a lawsuit as he was questioned under oath on Tuesday.
One of the Prince’s longest-standing and loudest critics is Piers, who left GMB in 2021 after controversy when he said he didn’t believe Meghan Markle’s claims in her Oprah interview, which included allegations of racism and feeling suicidal.
As the trial began, Piers was approached by a Sky News reporter on the street and asked what he thought about Harry’s trial, and he admitted he hadn’t yet seen it.
But he added: ‘I wish him luck with his privacy campaign. I look forward to reading it in his next book.’
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Susanna, who has defended Prince Harry and understands his feelings towards the British press, said on Wednesday that she found Piers made an ‘interesting’ point.
She said on GMB that Harry ‘talks to people in a way that maybe he wants to keep things private.
‘But Piers makes an interesting point there, whether you love him or hate him, whether you agree with what Harry said in court or not.
Susanna pointed out that Piers had an ‘interesting’ point on Prince Harry’s trial (Picture: ITV)
‘The point is, that Harry and Meghan have gone public with so much of their private lives. They’ve done Netflix documentaries which had massive ratings. They did not go under the radar. Spare blurted huge amounts of personal stuff, not just about his life but about his family’s life. About William, about Camilla, about the King.
‘Does that mean that when he then goes to court and says “My privacy was intruded upon,” he doesn’t have the same sympathy as if he had just gone and led a private life?’
Harry’s lawyers claim 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 used unlawfully gathered information.
Harry appeared in court yesterday to testify in the trial (Picture: Reuters)
MGN said it ‘unreservedly apologises’ to the duke for one incident when a journalist unlawfully sought information about one of Harry’s nights out in 2004 at London’s Chinawhite nightclub – a known celebrity haunt which has since closed – and that he was entitled to ‘appropriate compensation’.
It has previously admitted its titles were involved in illegally gathering information and has settled more than 600 claims at a cost of more than £100 million pounds in damages and costs. But its lawyers said there was nothing to suggest any other unlawful activity relating to the royal.
On Tuesday, in a written statement Harry referenced Piers directly, writing: ‘[T]he thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages […] makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behaviour.’
Later, he writes: ‘Unfortunately, as a consequence of me bringing my Mirror Group claim, both myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV
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Harry is currently invvolved in a trial against several newspapers.