What Harry Can Learn from Princess Diana on How to Deal with the Press

The death of Princess Diana is, understandably, the original sin of Prince Harry’s war against the media. It has shaped the path both brothers have had to walk ever since, above all in their dealings with a press they largely regard as a necessary evil.

Whatever the exact circumstances of that night in Paris, the brothers had seen first-hand the hounding that their mother went through on a daily basis and the lengths she had to go to try and provide her boys with a semblance of a normal life.

However, while William has made his peace and has a good working relationship with Fleet Street, Harry has remained consumed by a grievance that ultimately led to this week’s humiliation in his £50m legal action against the Daily Mail. Harry and Meghan are fond of therapy-speak but have discovered there’s no such thing as ‘your truth’ in the courtroom.

The difference between Harry and his mother is that Diana knew how to play the game. She would invite editors like Piers Morgan and Max Hastings for lunch and was friendly with correspondents such as Richard Kay. Similarly, she remained close to the Queen even during the darkest days of the War of the Waleses.

That is not to say she wasn't affected by what she read. Far from it — she once described to me, in a phrase I have never forgotten, exactly how the papers made her feel.