What is Glandular fever? Prince Harry opens up on 2002 kissing disease scandal in court

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, opened up about suffering from Glandular fever or 'Mono' in 2002, and how it made headlines that left him feeling "ashamed." While giving a witness statement against Mirror Group Newspapers on June 6 from the Duke of Sussex's court, the 38-year-old personality highlighted the "huge stigma" surrounding Mono that he was suffering from.

Of the news getting public, he said:

“The impact on me was huge.”

Prince Harry further slammed the publishing group for making his health scare public, continuing about how he did not know anyone outside his immediate family came to know about it. He added:

“The whole school seemed to know, no one would go near me and I was a bit of a laughing stock. I was miserable.”

The Duke of Sussex said that after the publishing group “made sure the whole country knew about [his] diagnosis,” he was “teased endlessly.”

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Prince Harry was suffering from Glandular fever, a common infection experienced in late teens and early 20s

As per Medical News Today, Glandular fever, often known as Infectious Mononucleosis, is an illness spread through saliva. Glandular fever is often caused by an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, a highly infectious herpes virus.

When a person gets glandular fever, the symptoms usually show up 4–6 weeks after the first illness. Some of the symptoms are as follows:

• flu-like symptoms, such as headaches and body pains
• a temperature of at least 100.4°F (38°C).
• a broad, non-itching rash
• nausea and appetite loss
• weakness, malaise, and exhaustion
• swollen and bags under the eyes
• sore throat
• swollen lymph nodes
• upper abdominal discomfort brought on by a swollen spleen
• liver pain and jaundice

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As for Prince Harry's ongoing case, the 38-year-old personality has made allegations against MGN, the parent company of Sunday Mirror, Daily Express, and Daily Mirror, for hacking his personal phone to publish information.

In June 6's statement, he said:

“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.”

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.”

The Duke said that the media had "blood on their hands" and that they were out to destroy every relationship he was in order to keep him alone. In one of the instances, Prince Harry noted that the media sowed "seeds of distrust" between him and elder brother Prince Williams after they covered the disagreement between the duo over whether to meet Princess Diana's former butler or not.

Other topics discussed were how MGN's publications covered the controversy surrounding Harry dressing up as a Nazi during a party, how press coverage affected his relationship with Chelsy Davy, and his worries that he might be expelled from Eton College for allegedly doing drugs.

In the trial, which started on May 10, MGN did admit that in 2004 it had hired a private detective to get information about Prince Harry's trip to a London nightclub in a way that was against the law.