Harry denies using ‘Mr Mischief’ Facebook profile to contact Mail on Sunday journalist

The Duke of Sussex used a Facebook profile under the name “Mr Mischief” to message a Mail on Sunday journalist, it was claimed at the High Court.

Harry was giving evidence in the witness box on the third day of his legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

Antony White KC, for ANL, alleged, while cross-examining the King’s youngest son, that the duke used the name “Mr Mischief” to contact the newspaper’s then-diary editor Charlotte Griffiths on Facebook, with the barrister suggesting she moved in the duke’s “social circles”.

Mr White said that Ms Griffiths claimed they met in Ibiza and she socialised with Harry and his friends at a house party on the Mediterranean island in 2011.

But Harry told the court that was not correct, and that he had only ever travelled to Ibiza with his wife the Duchess of Sussex and son Prince Archie.

“The only time I’ve been to Ibiza was with my wife and son,” he said.

He said he met Ms Griffiths once at a weekend gathering hosted by his friend Arthur Landon, but had no idea who she was and found out the next day.

Mr White then claimed that Harry used the Facebook profile named “Mr Mischief” to communicate with Ms Griffiths in 2011, suggesting that the duke “exchanged friendly messages” and his mobile number with her on social media.

Harry replied: “I have never used the name Mr Mischief.”

He added that considering Ms Griffiths claimed she met him in Ibiza, “everything else” Mr White said had to be taken “with a large pinch of salt”.

The duke said had “no idea” if he had exchanged messages with Ms Griffiths on Facebook and added: “I did not see Ms Griffiths socially.”

He described it as Ms Griffiths’ job to get information out of his friends but that they were aware of this and how the information would be used.

In a frosty exchange, Harry later told the High Court: “My social circles were not leaky, I want to make that absolutely clear.”

He added that if he became suspicious of someone, “I would have to cut contact with this person”.

In written submissions, Mr White said that Ms Griffiths will give evidence that she “personally mixed in the Duke of Sussex’s social circle at parties, social events and nightclubs and obtained stories about him and his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy from their respective friends and associates and from their and their friends’ social media posts”.

Harry, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, politician Sir Simon Hughes, and actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley are all bringing legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

This includes claims that information for articles was obtained by carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities such as phone tapping and “blagging” private records.

ANL has strongly denied wrongdoing and is defending the claims.