Sarah Geraghty: Prince Harry’s cringeworthy Mr Mischief messages – and 7 other times celebrities have had embarrassing texts leaked

Originally published in the Irish Independent.

There is immediate intrigue and an intense pang of second-hand embarrassment when a celebrity’s clearly private messages come to light.

“These messages are addictive because they give us something that we are not meant to see,” Head of careers at PR agency The Communications Clinic Sarah Geraghty says.

“It is that peek behind the curtain, or a backstage pass. It is especially intriguing for people in positions of power or celebrity, who are the focus of public attention, because almost everything we see is controlled and mediated and carefully shaped...”

Last week, messages allegedly sent by a young Prince Harry to a journalist were published in the Daily Telegraph.

In the messages, sent back in 2012, Charlotte Griffiths, a Mail on Sunday reporter, refers to Harry as ‘Mr Mischief’. He jokes about drinking her under the table and speaks about “movie snuggles”.

The messages were disclosed to London’s High Court as part of the British Duke’s privacy claim against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

Click here to read Sarah's full article.