Key events
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.
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 and in some cases inadvertently death,” Harry says.
Harry says this is a broader statement rather than referring to a specific individual.
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.
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”.
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.
Jim Waterson
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.
Jim Waterson
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.
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.
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