Prince Harry caught mono in 2002 — and he felt “ashamed” when his “kissing disease” made headlines.
In a witness statement from the Duke of Sussex’s court appearance Tuesday against Mirror Group Newspapers, he pointed out the “huge stigma” associated with the glandular fever he contracted.
“The impact on me was huge,” the 38-year-old said of the publishing powerhouse sharing his health scare at the time.
He noted that he is “not sure how anyone outside of [his] immediate family knew” about it.
“The whole school seemed to know, no one would go near me and I was a bit of a laughing stock,” Harry added. “I was miserable.”
The former military pilot went on to say he was “teased endlessly” after the company “made sure the whole country knew about [his] diagnosis.”
Harry was all smiles arriving at London’s High Court of the Royal Courts of Justice this morning to share his story after being a no-show on Monday.
The prince has accused MGN, the publisher behind the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Daily Express, of hacking his phone for information.
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“Tabloids would routinely publish articles about me that were often wrong but interspersed with snippets of truth, which I now think were most likely gleaned from voicemail interception and/or unlawful information gathering,” he added in Tuesday’s statement.
However, the company’s attorney Andrew Green KC has alleged that facts about Harry were “disclosed by or on behalf of royal households or members of the royal family.”
In the trial, which began on May 10, MGN did admit to hiring a private investigator in 2004 to illegally obtain information about Harry’s London nightclub outing.
The duke’s family members are “privately bracing” for his testimony, palace sources told Pvnew Monday.
“You just have no idea what direction the other side is going to go in on, and what they will dredge up,” one insider explained. “There’s a damn good reason why the royal family should feel uncomfortable.”
