LONDON — Prince Harry struck a combative tone while giving evidence on Wednesday in his lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail and denied suggestions that he was comfortable with journalists covering the royal family or that his friends had published bad things about him in the tabloids.
“My social circles were not leaky,” he declared in the third and final round of his battle against the British tabloids.
His blunt responses during questioning and his efforts to explain what it was like to live under what he called “24-hour surveillance” eventually led to the intervention of the judge, who told him not to argue with the defense attorney.
Judge Matthew Nicklin told the frustrated prince: “You do not have to bear the burden of arguing the case today.”
Harry and six other high-profile figures, including Elton John and actress Elizabeth Hurley, claim Associated Newspapers Ltd breached their privacy by engaging in a “clear, systematic and sustained use of illegal information gathering” for two decades, said barrister David Sherborne.
Associated Newspapers Ltd denied the allegations, calling them implausible and saying that nearly 50 articles in question were reported by legitimate sources that included close associates willing to report on their famous friends.
Harry says he was ‘incredibly paranoid’
In his 23-page statement, Harry said he was saddened and disturbed by the intrusions into his early life by The Mail and its sister newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, which made him “incredibly paranoid”.
Under the English civil court system, witnesses give written evidence, and after its authenticity is confirmed they are immediately subjected to cross-examination.
Harry, wearing a dark suit, held a small copy of the Bible in his right hand at the High Court in London and swore “to the Almighty God that the evidence I will give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” After the Duke of Sussex said he preferred to be called Prince Harry, he acknowledged that his 23-page statement was true and accurate.
Defense lawyer Anthony White, in a calm and gentle tone, began asking Harry questions to determine whether the source of the articles had, in fact, come from royal correspondents working their sources at official events or from friends or associates of the prince.
When the soft-spoken Harry became increasingly defensive, Wyatt said: “I intend for you not to have a bad experience with me, but it’s my job to ask you these questions.”
Harry indicated that the information came from eavesdropping on his phone calls or through private investigators spying on him. He said journalist Katie Nicholl had the luxury of deceptively using the term “unknown source” to hide illegal investigative procedures.
“If you complain, they double my experience,” he said, explaining why he did not object to the articles at the time.
He said that over the decades, Harry had what he described as an “uneasy” relationship with the media, but he remained silent and followed the family protocol of “never complaining, never explaining.”
Articles about Meghan prompted him to file a lawsuit
This lawsuit is part of Harry’s declared mission to reform the media, which he accuses of the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car accident in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris. He also said that the constant press attacks on his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, prompted them to leave royal life and move to the United States in 2020.
“The ongoing vicious attacks, harassment and racist articles about Meghan, who is biracial, inspired him to break with family tradition to finally sue the press,” he said.
This is the second time that Harry has testified after he broke with the traditions of the House of Windsor and became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court in more than a century when he took the position in his similar lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror newspaper in 2023.
The trial is expected to last nine weeks, and a written ruling could be issued months later.
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