Closing summary
Today’s proceedings in the high court are coming to a close. Today Prince Harry became the first senior royal to be cross-examined in court since the 19th century.
Here’s a summary of what happened today:
Harry was sworn in at court and taken through a number of articles he has submitted as part of his claim against Mirror Group Newspapers.
Harry told the court as a child he was subjected to “incredibly invasive” news articles that would have an impact him and those around him, including his late mother.
The prince said some editors and journalists had “blood on their hands” and through their work they had caused pain, upset and “inadvertently” death.
Harry said every article published about his private life contributed towards the destruction of his childhood.
The Mirror Group Newspapers barrister, Andrew Green, repeatedly argued that the articles submitted for the complaint were based on information often already in the public domain in articles published in other newspapers.
Green argued that many of the articles could be traced to legitimate sources including spokespersons for St James’s Palace.
In addition to Prince Harry’s cross-examination in court, he provided a 49-page written witness statement, setting out many of his arguments. He argues that the press portrayed him as a “thicko” and a “drug taker”.
In court, Harry argued that reports about his health – in one case an injured thumb – led him at the time to feel paranoid around his own doctors.
Harry’s witness statement says that at one point at the age of 20 he had to hide in the boot of a car to avoid the paparazzi.
In his witness statement, Harry alleges Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, listened to messages left by his mother, Princess Diana.
In court, Harry alluded to the difficulties between him and his brother, Prince William. He said an article about a disagreement between the two was the sort of story that “seeds distrust between brothers”.
The prince said he would have called former royal butler Paul Burrell a “two-faced shit”.
Harry’s witness statement makes reference to the long-standing speculation that his real father was army officer James Hewitt, which culminated in a series of stories about attempts to steal Harry’s DNA for testing.
The prince suggested in his witness statement that the UK government and UK press had a poor reputation around the world and was at “rock bottom”, adding that the UK press was “in bed” with the government rather than scrutinising it.
Thanks for reading, we’ll be back tomorrow.
Updated
Britain’s government and press at rock bottom, Prince Harry tells court
Prince Harry has said Rishi Sunak’s government is at “rock bottom” and avoids scrutiny by getting “in bed” with friendly newspapers.
The prince once again broke with royal protocol by using his appearance in the phone-hacking trial to criticise a serving government. He said democracy in the UK was threatened because British media outlets were working with the government to maintain the “status quo”.
Harry told the high court that “our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government, both of which I believe are at rock bottom”.
He used his witness statement in the phone-hacking court case against Mirror Group Newspapers to suggest British newspapers work closely with ministers to defend vested interests: “Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinise and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo.”
Sunak’s spokesperson declined to comment on the intervention, saying: “You’ve heard repeatedly from the prime minister on the state of the country and his priorities, but I’m not going to get drawn into commenting specifically on that.”
In the witness statement, Harry has said he was furious at royal butler Paul Burrell, who used to work for his mother, and discussed the issue with his brother, Prince William.
The People later published a story in which Harry was quoted as calling Burrell a “two-faced shit”. The prince now believes this came from hacking his voicemails:
Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscrete Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother’s possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her. We firmly believed that she would have expected some privacy in death, especially from someone she had trusted, and we were so upset at the way he was behaving – I didn’t want to hear his reasons for it. Therefore, our disagreement over to how to handle the situation going forward was not something I wanted splashed across the defendant’s newspapers, and I have no idea how the defendant’s journalists obtained the information within the article. A ‘senior Royal source’ is quoted within the article, reflecting my exact private feelings including that I was “dead against any meeting” and that a meeting would be “pandering to Burrell’s attention-seeking and self-interest”. I also would have used the phrase “two-face s***”, as is reported and believe this could have been lifted directly from a voicemail I had left.
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Harry’s witness statement makes reference to the long-standing speculation that his real father was army officer James Hewitt, which culminated in a series of stories about attempts to steal Harry’s DNA for testing:
Numerous newspapers had reported a rumour that my biological father was James Hewitt, a man my mother had a relationship with after I was born. At the time of this article and others similar to it, I wasn’t actually aware that my mother hadn’t met Major Hewitt until after I was born. This timeline is something I only learnt of in around 2014, although I now understand this was common knowledge amongst the defendant’s journalists. At the time, when I was 18 years old and had lost my mother just six years earlier, stories such as this felt very damaging and very real to me. They were hurtful, mean and cruel. I was always left questioning the motives behind the stories. Were the newspapers keen to put doubt into the minds of the public so I might be ousted from the royal family?
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Harry’s witness statement describes his concerns about how the media now contains “incredibly powerful” companies “who masquerade as journalists and who have, quite literally, hijacked journalistic privileges for their own personal gain and agenda”.
He writes:
It’s an unbelievably dangerous place. I believe it doesn’t matter whether you’re a public figure at this point. Whoever you are, if you are of interest to the press at that time, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing – if you’re in private or if you’re in public – you are a target. You become a victim of their system. They claim to hold public figures to account, but refuse to hold themselves accountable. If they’re supposedly policing society, who on earth is policing them, when even the government is scared of alienating them because position is power. It is incredibly worrying for the entire UK.
In my view, in order to save journalism as a profession, journalists need to expose those people in the media that have stolen or hijacked the privileges and powers of the press, and have used illegal or unlawful means for their own gain and agendas. In the same vein, I am bringing this claim, not because I hate the tabloid press or even necessarily a section of it, but in order to properly hold the people who have hijacked those privileges, which come with being a member of the press, to account for their actions.
Updated
The court session has concluded for the day. Prince Harry was told not to discuss his evidence with anyone. He will return to the witness box tomorrow.
Green turns to an article about a trip taken by Harry to South Africa in 2005.
Harry has questioned how the Mirror knew about his trip, but Green once again points to an earlier article – this time in the Daily Mail – revealing the detail.
Quotes attributed to an “insider” are suspicious, Harry says.
Harry acknowledges the similarities but again argues that a story in the Mail would push a Mirror journalist to try to take it further.
Harry says in his witness statement the level of detail in articles about his trips with Chelsy Davy is “disturbing”.
“References to spending ‘hour’ on the phone with Chelsy, I don’t know how anyone would know that, our relationship was private,” Harry says.
“Our trust in our friends reduced rapidly in a very short space of time,” Harry adds.
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The next article to which Green refers is about an alleged argument between the duke and his then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy.
The article came shortly after the Sun had published a story with an image of Prince Harry dressed in a Nazi uniform, Green tells the court.
The photos in the Sun of Harry in the Nazi uniform were sold to the Sun by an attender of the fancy dress party, Green says.
It was also said that at that party Harry flirted with a girl who was not his then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, Green says.
This then formed an article in the Mirror about how Davy responded to the claims Harry was flirting with another girl.
Green suggests the source was Chelsy Davy’s uncle, Paul Davy.
That’s based on the understanding that the journalist (Jane Kerr) was being truthful about the source of the story, Harry says.
Attributing it as a “pal” is a classic hallmark of phone hacking, the duke adds.
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Prince Harry tells the court he can’t fathom how the journalist would have known when he was flying back from Africa.
“Details about how I was flying would not have been released by the palace due to security reasons,” Harry says.
Harry says he thinks that detail would have been obtained unlawfully – through flight blagging, phone hacking, or other means.
Green suggests it could have been Chelsy Davy’s uncle, Paul, who gave the media the information.
Harry rejects this.
“It’s [as] distressing reading it now as it was the first time I looked at it,” Harry says of the article.
Updated
The court session has resumed.
Andrew Green KC for the Mirror has now moved on to the 15th article he wishes to scrutinise.
The headline is “When Harry met Daddy: the biggest danger to wildlife in Africa”.
Harry complains that the article reveals private information about his life, namely about his meeting with his then girlfriend Chelsy Davy’s father.
The prime focus of the article related to the business of Davy’s father, a game-hunting enterprise.
Once again, Green points Harry to an article published the day before the Mirror article in question – namely in the Mail and that the Mail article has many of the details featured subsequently in the Mirror’s follow-up.
Green suggests the Mail on Sunday article was based on an interview with Chelsy Davy’s uncle, Paul Davy.
“That’s what the article says,” Green says.
“Doesn’t mean it’s true Mr Green,” Harry replies.
Updated
The court has risen for a short break.
Did you leave a voicemail on Prince William’s phone calling former royal butler Paul Burrell a “two-faced shit”? Green asks.
“I left voicemails on my brother’s phone and that is terminology I use to refer to Mr Burrell,” Harry replies.
But he adds he cannot recall if he specifically left the voicemail.
Updated
'This sort of article seeds distrust between brothers'
The next article raised by Green is about a disagreement between William and Harry over meeting Paul Burrell, the former butler to Princess Diana.
“This sort of article seeds distrust between brothers,” Harry says, a nod towards the reported breakdown in relationship between Harry and his brother, the Prince of Wales.
The article says Harry referred to Burrell as a “two-faced shit”.
In his witness statement, Harry says this is the sort of phrase he would use to describe Burrell and may have done so in a voicemail message left on William’s phone.
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The next article in the sample is headlined “Beach bum Harry” and is published in 2003.
It has photographs of Harry and friends in the sea in Noosa, Australia.
Harry complains the article revealed details about his private life including his whereabouts on the beach.
Harry tells the court he can’t work out how anyone would have known where he was – he was on a remote beach in Australia with a small number of friends far away from other people.
Harry said finding him was like “finding a needle in a haystack”.
There were many photographers, local or otherwise, that are prepared to look for a needle in a haystack, Green says.
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The Mirror article about Harry quitting his gap year included a detail that he had been “inside watching videos”.
The article refers to Mark Dyer, a former palace aide, and Green suggests the information about Harry’s behaviour came from him.
Harry does not accept Dyer was behind that information.
The information you allege came from phone hacking came from minders and Dyer, Green says.
Harry does not accept this.
The court session has resumed.
Green moves on to the next article, headline: “Harry is ready to quit Oz.”
Harry complains that the Mirror article revealed private information, namely he wanted to return from his gap year in Australia due to press intrusion.
Green draws attention to a quote from a palace spokesperson in the article.
In his witness statement, Harry accepts that a St James’s Palace spokesperson put out a statement.
Green says the statement appeared in other papers too – the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Mail.
Do you accept the information was not obtained by the Daily Mirror through phone hacking or other unlawful means? Green asks.
You’d have to ask the journalists, Harry says.
Updated
The court is rising for a short break.
Green moves on to another article headlined “Harry to lead cadets march”.
Harry alleges that the article reveals private information about his private life and personal life, namely being selected to lead a cadets’ parade at Eton.
A spokesperson refers to Harry being “delighted” in the article.
Green asks Harry if he was aware a St James’s Palace spokesperson had released the information the day before the article.
“That’s a classic example of when the palace would put out a statement,” he said.
Green asks if he accepts then that the Mirror article was based on information actually issued by St James’s Palace.
Harry says he finds it suspicious that the article has no byline and then a follow-up article later in the day about the same matter had the byline of a journalist known to be associated with illegal information gathering.
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Green finds the interview that Harry gave to a Press Association journalist in 2002 around his 18th birthday.
It was in turn published in various Sunday newspapers, Green says, for example the Sunday Times.
Green points out the similarities between the Sunday Times article and Daily Mirror article, about which Harry complains.
“The private information about which you complain in the Mirror article had been revealed by you in an interview and then published in Sunday newspapers before appearing in the Mirror article,” Green says.
Do you still maintain that the Mirror article was based on unlawfully gathered information, Green asks.
“I believe the article was connected to an invoice,” Harry says.
“And so what?” Green asks.
“The timing was suspicious,” Harry replies.
“And so what?” Green asks again.
Harry says the appearance of the interview in the Sunday newspapers was enough to incentivise other journalists to unlawfully gather additional information.
Updated
Green moves to an article with the headline “Eton Trifles”.
Harry has complained it contains private details of how he celebrated his 18th birthday with his family.
In the witness statement, Harry says the celebration included a low-profile lunch with his father and brother.
Harry says he was obliged to give an interview about the occasion but alleges additional private information was obtained unlawfully for the article.
Did you check to see if there was additional information that didn’t appear in the interview? Green asks.
“I relied on my legal team,” Harry says.
What information was obtained by phone hacking? Green asks.
“The point is birthday was a prime opportunity to find some form of a story, an exclusive, taking a story that exists further,” Harry says.
Did you look back over the interview you consented to? Green asks.
“No,” Harry says.
Updated
“This information was highly personal, it was distressing for the reasons I detailed in my witness statement,” Harry says of the articles about his contraction of glandular fever.
Green asks if the Mirror article was more or less distressing than articles in other newspapers about the same matter.
Harry says he is unable to recall exactly which articles he has seen and which he has read.
Green is referring to an article about Harry contracting glandular fever.
Green draws attention to a palace spokesperson’s comments in the article – the inference being the spokesperson could be the source of the article.
But Harry once again points out that this was brought to them by the Mirror journalist – and the palace spokesperson was responding to a question.
The court has resumed after lunch.
Andrew Green KC is continuing to go through the sample articles submitted by Prince Harry to support his claim.
Elsewhere in his written witness statement, Harry says he often noticed the tell-tale signs of phone hacking:
I have never been the named account holder for any mobile that I have had and have almost never received a phone bill.
I remember on multiple occasions hearing a voicemail for the first time that wasn’t ‘new’, but I don’t remember thinking that it was particularly unusual – I would simply put it down to perhaps a technical glitch, as mobile phones were still relatively new back then, or even just having too many drinks the night before (and having forgotten that I’d listened to it).
In his witness statement, Harry says tabloid coverage shaped how schoolfriends, members of the public, and army colleagues viewed him:
I always wondered, when walking into a room of unknown people, whether they had read all these stories and what judgment they had already formed based on what they’d read in the tabloids. Whatever advantage people claimed I had by walking into a room as ‘Prince Harry’ was immediately flipped on its head, because I was facing judgments and opinions based on what had been reported about me, true or not. I expected people to be thinking ‘he’s obviously going to fail this test, because he’s a thicko’.
Having seen me grow up from a baby (being born into this ‘contractual relationship’ without any choice) and scrutinised my every move, the tabloids have known the challenges and mental health struggles that I have had to deal with throughout my childhood and adult life and for them to then play on that and use it to their own advantage, I think is, well, criminal.
Updated
Harry alleges Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, listened to messages left by his mother, Princess Diana:
The thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages (in the same way as they have me) and then having given her a ‘nightmare time’ three months prior to her death in Paris, makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behaviour.
Later, he says Piers Morgan has targeted him in the press as a result of his phone hacking legal case:
Unfortunately, as a consequence of me bringing my Mirror Group claim, both myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan, who was the editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004, presumably in retaliation and in the hope that I will back down, before being able to hold him properly accountable for his unlawful activity towards both me and my mother during his editorship
Updated
Harry’s witness statement says that at one point he had to hide in the boot of a car to avoid the paparazzi:
I had just turned 20, and like most 20-year-olds, I wanted to go out and socialise. However, everywhere I went, the paparazzi seemed to turn up even though efforts were always being made to conceal where I was going.
I had to walk out, hold my head high and just try to push past and get in the car. On rare occasions I even hid in the boot …
The paparazzi had me surrounded, their arms in my face. They don’t take photographs like you’d expect, it’s just their arms stretched out pushing a button, taking hundreds of photographs all at once with the flash in your face. I couldn’t even see where I was going. As I reached the car, I could hear taunting, I was being egged on for a reaction, knowing I’d been out and had a few drinks. A camera hit me across my nose as I was opening the door, I turned, grabbed the nearest camera to me and shoved it backwards.
Updated
The court is breaking for lunch and will return at 2pm.
Harry has been warned not to discuss his evidence with anyone during the break.
Green continues with the allegations of drug taking that first appeared in the News of the World.
In Harry’s memoir, Spare, he alleges a “spin doctor” within Buckingham Palace worked with the papers on the story.
Harry tells the court the spin doctor to which he refers was Mark Bolland, a PR executive who served as deputy private secretary to the then Prince of Wales, Charles, from 1997 to 2002.
“Private information about you was sometimes provided to the press with the consent of the press … without your consent … or even knowledge,” Green says.
“Private information about you that you present as being gathered unlawfully was actually provided by Mr Bolland.”
The drug-taking story was picked up by other newspapers after it appeared in the News of the World, Green says.
Isn’t it unfair that you allege that the Mirror article was based on unlawfully gathered information when it was already in the News of the World, Green says.
“You’d have to ask the journalists,” Harry replies.
Updated
The article about Harry’s alleged drug taking in the News of the World was written by Clive Goodman and Mazher Mahmood, also known as the fake sheikh (Goodman was later jailed for phone hacking and Mahmood was later jailed for perverting the course of justice).
Green reads sections of the News of the World article to Harry and puts it to him that a source within the palace was behind parts of the story, which Harry concedes.
The KC is now reading excerpts from Spare, Harry’s autobiography, which address the drug-taking stories that appeared in the News of the World.
Green says the excerpts show that the “palace was playing ball”.
Updated
Green turns to an article that alleges Harry smoked cannabis.
The story originally broke in the News of the World, Green says.
“An untrue story,” Harry replies.
A sketch by court artist Elizabeth Cook has been released.
It shows her depiction of the Duke of Sussex with his counsel, David Sherborne, and the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, looking on.
Accredited journalists have access to a live feed of proceedings as well as access to the court room, and I can say Harry looks less hungover in real life.
Updated
Because of who you are there are many different routes that information about you can be communicated to the press, Green suggests.
Harry replies that the number of people he shares his life with has become smaller and smaller over the years.
Green pushes Harry to be specific about who hacked a phone and whose phone was hacked.
“We are, Prince Harry, in the realms of total speculation,” Green says.
Updated
Harry explains that reports about his health – in this case his injured thumb – led him at the time to feel paranoid around his own doctors.
The duke emphasises that when a palace spokesperson provides information to a publication it is in response to questions from a journalist and he questions how the journalist had the information. The implication being that the journalist has used unlawful methods to obtain information before going to the palace for comment.
Updated
Green turns to another Mirror article about an injury Harry sustained to his thumb.
Harry alleges the information was obtained by unlawful methods.
Green produces earlier articles in different publications including the Evening Standard and Press Association on the same topic.
Harry again says papers were competitive and pushed to go further than their rivals.
Green asks if Harry has contacted any of the other papers expressing concern about his private life being the subject of articles, which Harry has not.
The pub in which Harry celebrated his birthday was owned by the celebrity chef Ed Baines, Green says.
Baines had a relationship with the media and regularly spoke to them, Green says.
Harry says he was not aware of the chef but suspects he would be too busy to call the media to let them know he was in the pub.
Updated
The MGN barrister Andrew Green KC has pointed Harry to a 3am column in the Mirror and a “callout” at the end of the column asking members of the public to ring in if they see famous people.
The column reveals details of Harry’s birthday celebration – at a gastropub in Fulham.
Green suggests Harry would have walked along the street to the pub which is off the Fulham Road.
“I don’t walk on streets,” Harry says, explaining he has to travel by car for security reasons as he is spotted wherever he goes.
Updated
The hearing has resumed and Harry has been told to speak up a bit.
The duke’s barrister David Sherborne said he’d been asked on behalf of a number of people in court and watching proceedings remotely if Harry could “raise his voice”.
Harry then laughed as Andrew Green KC, for MGN, joked: “I hope not raise it in anger.”
Updated
Prince Harry condemns 'vile' behaviour of tabloids who cast him as 'thicko' and 'drug taker'
In addition to Prince Harry’s cross-examination in court, he has provided a 49-page written witness statement, setting out many of his arguments.
We’ll bring you highlights from the witness statement here in between the exchanges live in court.
In it Harry describes how the tabloid media created the public character of ‘Prince Harry’ and shaped how other people viewed him:
You start off as a blank canvas while they work out what kind of person you are and what kind of problems and temptations you might have. They then start to edge you towards playing the role or roles that suit them best and which sells as many newspapers as possible, especially if you are the ‘spare’ to the ‘heir’. You’re then either the ‘playboy prince’, the ‘failure’, the ‘dropout’ or, in my case, the ‘thicko’, the ‘cheat’, the ‘underage drinker’, the ‘irresponsible drug taker’, the list goes on.
As a teenager and in my early twenties, I ended up feeling as though I was playing up to a lot of the headlines and stereotypes that they wanted to pin on me mainly because I thought that, if they are printing this rubbish about me and people were believing it, I may as well ‘do the crime’, so to speak. It was a downward spiral, whereby the tabloids would constantly try and coax me, a ‘damaged’ young man, into doing something stupid that would make a good story and sell lots of newspapers. Looking back on it now, such behaviour on their part is utterly vile.
I always felt as if the tabloids wanted me to be single, as I was much more interesting to them and sold more newspapers
Updated
The court is taking a short break.
The judge tells Harry to stretch his legs but warns him not to discuss his evidence with anyone until he has finished giving his evidence.
“There was no need for the Daily Mirror journalist to use unlawful means because the story had already been published by the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday,” Green says.
The level of competition between the news corporations pushed journalists to use unlawful methods to take stories further, Harry says.
“It’s a little unfair to suggest the journalist obtained the information by phone hacking when it was already in the public domain?” Green asks.
Harry disagrees.
Green turns to an article about William and Harry going rock climbing instead of to a 100th birthday celebration for the late Queen Mother.
Do you think this article was a result of hacking? Green asks.
Yes, Harry replies.
Green once again produces another article – from the Daily Mail – published two days before the article in the Mirror submitted as part of the claim, which is ostensibly about the same thing – that Harry and William will miss the Queen Mother’s event.
But Harry says the Mirror article goes into much more detail.
Updated
Asked by the judge if he is suggesting third-party invoices suggests unlawful activity, Harry says his understanding is the hacking was done by burner phones and they were destroyed, there was no call data, so he “has little to go on”.
There is an enormous amount of call data in relation to other targets, but none to you, Green replies.
Updated
Green asks Harry about references in his claim about invoices to private investigative firms.
Is it to suggest some sort of unlawful information gathering took place? Green asks.
“That’s a question for my legal team,” Harry says.
Is the purpose of referring to a particular third-party supplier intended to suggest that unlawful activity took place? Green asks.
“It’s highly suspicious the number of invoices around these articles, the number of dropped calls, missed calls …” Harry says.
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Green turns to another article about which Harry has complained relating to the ill health of a gardener who worked for the then Prince Charles.
Green again argues, using examples of a number of other articles published before the Mirror article in question, that it contained nothing that was not already in the public domain.
“There is nothing on the face of the article that phone hacking took place,” Green says.
Harry says “you would have to ask the journalist themselves”.
Updated
Are you aware your mother had spoken to the press previously about your feelings about the divorce? Green asks.
She was asked questions about it, Harry says.
Green reads a Press Association article headline: “Young princes bear up to trauma of the breakup,” which contains quotes from Diana about the young princes’ experience of the divorce.
The Press Association article was published two months before an article in the Mirror newspapers about Harry’s feelings about the divorce, that he has submitted as part of his claim.
Green is effectively arguing that the Mirror article contains nothing that was not put in the public domain from Princess Diana previously.
Updated
Green is challenging Harry over a specific article about a visit from Princess Diana to Prince Harry on his 12th birthday at boarding school.
Harry says there is information in the article that must have been obtained through unlawful methods.
“The article says you were believed to be taking the royal divorce badly,” Green says. “It wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t obvious.”
“You’re not suggesting this sentence is indicative of phone hacking are you?” Green asks.
Other elements of the article suggest that, Harry says.
But what about you taking the divorce badly, Green asks.
That’s not in the public interest, Harry says.
That’s a different point, Green replies.
Green is quoting Harry’s witness statement back to him.
“It created a huge amount of paranoia in my relationships,” Harry says in the statement.
Green asks how did it make him paranoid if he can’t recall reading it at the time of publication?
“As a child growing up, in teenage years, I was under press invasion for most of my life, up until this day,” Harry replies.
“This is 20 years ago, I can’t speculate whether I saw these articles at the time,” Harry says.
Harry says his circle of friends diminished as more information about his private life appeared in the newspapers.
'Every one of those articles played a destructive role in my growing up,' says Prince Harry
Green is fixing on the issue that Harry is basing his claim on 147 specific articles, yet may not be able to specifically recall reading the individual articles and how they specifically caused him distress.
Harry is arguing that all articles published about him – every single one – caused him distress.
“Every one of these articles played an important role – a destructive role – in my growing up,” Harry says.
Updated
Harry is sat in a wood-panelled booth in the corner of the courtroom, with two computer monitors in front of him, and a large television screen hung on the wall behind him.
To his right, sit his legal team, to his left the presiding judge, Mr Justice Fancourt. Across the courtoom, stands Andrew Green KC, the barrister representing the Mirror Group Newspapers.
Prince Harry: some editors and journalists inadvertently caused death
Harry in his witness statement says he is bringing the claim to “hold people accountable for what they’ve done”, Green says.
“How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness,” Harry says in his witness statement.
Who has blood on their hands? Green asks.
“Editors and journalists for causing a lot of pain, upset, and in some cases inadvertently death,” Harry says.
Harry says this is a broader statement rather than referring to a specific individual.
Updated
Would you say you have a longstanding hostility towards the press?
Yes, Harry says.
That hostility predated your discovery of the use of unlawful methods of information gathering, Green says.
Yes, Harry says.
Prince Harry: I was subject of incredibly invasive articles when I was a child
How can you say the articles caused you distress if you can’t recall reading them at the time of publication? Green asks.
I never said I didn’t read them, Harry says.
Harry says newspapers were often found in the royal household, he says.
Green gives one example of an article and asks if Harry can remember reading it, Harry says he can’t recall reading it at time of publication.
“I was a child, I was at school, these articles were incredibly invasive, every single time one of these articles was written it would have an impact on my life, the people around me, my mother in this case,” Harry says.
Green says Harry is essentially after recompense for general press intrusion rather than specific articles.
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Green asks Harry if he personally selected the 147 articles forming the basis of his claim.
Harry said he selected them with his solicitors.
Do you have a recollection of seeing those articles at the time of their publication? Green asks.
Probably some of them, yes, Harry replies.
“When I was going through them, it jogged memories,” Harry says.
Andrew Green KC, acting for Mirror Group Newspapers, is explaining to Prince Harry how his cross-examination will unfold.
“If you think a question is unduly intrusive, please say so,” Green says.
Prince Harry sworn in at high court
Prince Harry has been sworn in.
David Sherborne, his barrister, confirms that after being referred to as “your royal highness” in the first instance, the duke will be subsequently referred to as “Prince Harry”.
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Prince Harry is about to enter the witness box to give evidence, becoming the first senior royal to be cross-examined in court since the 19th century.
Prince Harry has entered the courtroom, shaking hands with members of his legal team including former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris, who now works on phone hacking cases.
I’m inside Court 15 at the Rolls Building in central London, where Prince Harry is about to become the first senior royal to be cross-examined in court since 1891.
It’s almost four years since Prince Harry started his phone hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers. And today he finally gets to put forward their side of the story, in his own words, under oath.
It could be brutal. Other individuals who have already given evidence in this trial have been visibly shaken by the experience of being cross-examined.
Harry will argue that journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and People hacked his voicemails and illegally used private investigators to obtain stories about him and his relationships.
The Mirror’s barrister, Andrew Green KC, will do his best to undermine Harry and cast doubt on both the prince’s evidence and his motive for bringing the claims. Harry will have to remain calm for two days of cross-examination, with every one of his allegations picked apart.
Dozens of television crews and photographers from around the world have gathered outside the Rolls Building in central London. Harry said he brought the case in order to draw attention to alleged wrongdoing in the British media. Now, with the world watching - and no lawyer telling him what to say - he’s got to make his case.
Prince Harry might be bracing himself for a light rap on the knuckles from the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, who expressed frustration on Monday that the duke was not in court in person.
The Duke’s barrister, David Sherborne, explained that Harry was not in court on Monday because he had been in Los Angeles until late Sunday to celebrate his daughter’s second birthday party.
Mr Justice Fancourt said he was “a little surprised” to hear the duke would not be attending court on Monday.
The judge said he gave a direction earlier in the trial that witnesses should be available the day before their evidence was due to be heard in case the legal teams’ opening speeches ran short.
Harry’s no-show made a couple of the newspapers’ front pages this morning.
Whether the judge raises it again with the duke, we’ll have to wait and see.
Updated
Prince Harry arrives at the high court
The Duke of Sussex has arrived at the High Court to give evidence in his case against the Daily Mirror’s publisher over alleged unlawful information gathering.
Prince Harry arrived in a black Range Rover, which pulled in quickly outside the Rolls Building in central London. Dressed in a dark suit, the duke walked straight into the court, passing the pack of photographers and other media waiting outside.
On Monday, Harry’s individual case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) got under way.
He is suing the publisher, claiming journalists at its titles – which also include the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
His barrister David Sherborne claimed the duke was subjected to unlawful information-gathering activity “right from when he was a young boy at school” into adulthood, adding: “Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds.”
Andrew Green KC, acting for MGN, said there was no evidence that hacking of Harry’s phone took place. “Zilch, zero, nil, de nada, niente, nothing,” he said.
