Prince Harry link to Diddy case unveiled in new court documents

Prince Harry vehemently shut down any connection to the ongoing trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs as he accused newspapers of ‘retaliation’.

In newly revealed court documents acquired by The Guardian, Harry claimed that The Sun’s front page story linking him to Diddy was motivated by revenge.

The Duke of Sussex had previously filed a lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN), which was settled in January – which was considered a victory for King Charles’ younger son.

The lawsuit was based on Harry’s claims that the publishing giant used unlawful information gathering and phone hacking. The settlement ended Harry’s legal action just as the trial was about to begin.

Harry’s claims in the document stated that The Sun’s cover story was among “a large number of false and highly derogatory articles” published by NGN.

He alleged that “since issuing his claim on 27 September 2019, NGN has published in the Sun or Sun on Sunday a large number of false and highly derogatory articles about the DoS plainly in retaliation, including articles that suggested he has somehow ‘betrayed’ his family, has ‘lied’ about them to garner sympathy, is a ‘traitor’ to his country and, perhaps most damaging of all, has been named in a high-profile sex-trafficking case.”

He noted that the piece had “a hugely negative impact on his mental health and that of his wife and children”.

The mention of a “high-profile sex-trafficking case” is a reference to sex-trafficking lawsuit filed against the P. Diddy. A front-page story was published in the Sun on March 27th, 2024, with the headline “Harry named in P Diddy sex traffic case”.

The story went on to claim that “bombshell legal filings allege Diddy used Harry’s name to give ‘legitimacy’ to wild parties where ‘serious illegal activity’ took place”. However, it mentioned at the bottom of the fourth paragraph that Harry was not accused of any wrongdoing.

However, Harry had met the rapper only once, in 2007 at the end of a memorial concert for his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. He has never attended any of the musician’s parties.

NGN had defended its story noting that they “always take the greatest care to ensure what we report is accurate and the Sun reflects public opinion and debate”.

“The reference to the Duke of Sussex in the Sean Coombs case was because his name appeared in court documents in a case of huge international interest,” they said.

“It was made quite clear that there was no allegation of wrongdoing in respect of the Duke of Sussex and the article explained why he had been cited. The same information was published in multiple other titles.”