London, UK - Prince Harry, who has been embroiled in legal battles against British tabloids, said his "mission" against them partly caused his rift with the royal family, in an interview aired Thursday.

The younger son of King Charles III has brought a number of court cases against tabloids, which he, alongside other public figures, accuses of illegally collecting information.

Beyond the legal proceedings, the Duke of Sussex, as he is also known, has expressed anger at the mistreatment of his wife, Meghan Markle, by the popular press.

He has long considered them responsible for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a car accident in Paris in 1997.

In December last year, Harry (39) secured a ruling in his favor against MGN, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, for phone hacking, which he said was a "monumental victory."

"To have the judge rule in our favor was obviously huge," Harry told a new ITV documentary, Tabloids on Trial. "But for him to go as far as he did... this wasn't just the [fault of] individual people. This went right up to the top. This was lawyers, this was high executives," added the prince, who made a surprise appearance in court to testify in the case.

Harry was awarded more than $180,000 in damages after the trial and reached a financial settlement over the remaining claims against MGN.

He has also filed a similar lawsuit against NGN, publisher of tabloid The Sun, which denies the accusations. That trial is set to take place next year. Harry has, however, dropped libel claims against the group that publishes the Mail on Sunday for its reporting on his police protection.

The former British Army captain, who quit royal duties and moved to North America in 2020, said his mother's hounding by the tabloids helped motivate him in his legal battle.

"She wasn't paranoid, she was absolutely right about what was happening to her," he said. "She's not around today to find out the truth."

Since he and Meghan left the UK, Harry has been at odds with his family, particularly his brother William and their father.

Tensions between the two brothers strained further with the release of a Netflix documentary produced by Harry and Meghan at the end of 2022.

He was also critical of William in his memoir Spare, published last year.

Harry told the program he believed his determination to take on the tabloids aggravated the rift.

He said he regretted that the rest of the British royal family was not by his side. "It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family," he added.

"I believe that from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. For me, the mission continues."

Other celebrities who have launched legal action against tabloids, including British actor Hugh Grant, also opens up in the documentary.

The Four Weddings and a Funeral actor described how microphones were placed in windows outside his house, with mics and trackers dropped into his car.

Grant recently reached a financial settlement with NGN to end legal proceedings after being advised of the hefty legal bill he could have to pay if he went to trial.

NGN has denied accusations of wrongdoing at The Sun.

Despite the deal, Grant said he remained "bitter and determined to exact justice on the executives who commissioned this stuff."