Prince Harry told the High Court in London on Tuesday that his civil lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers was intended to hold some “editors and journalists to account” as he described the effect of “incredibly invasive” articles that caused him to go into a “downward spiral”.
The Duke of Sussex, the first British royal to give evidence in a court of law since the 19th century, has alleged, along with three other claimants, that the media group unlawfully gathered information at its three titles including the Daily Mirror for almost 20 years.
They claimed the titles engaged in phone hacking and the use of private investigators in a “flood of illegality”. Mirror Group denies the allegations and is defending the case.
Prince Harry will be cross-examined on Tuesday and Wednesday morning by Mirror Group barrister Andrew Green KC, who has been described by The Legal 500, a legal directory, as a “beast in court” and an “opponent to be feared with a punchy and aggressive court style”.
Green on Tuesday apologised to the prince on behalf of Mirror Group for one occasion in which a private investigator, instructed by the company, monitored his activities at London nightclub Chinawhite. “That should not have happened,” Green said.
Prince Harry told the High Court that in holding the press accountable he intended to “put a stop to this madness”. In his witness statement, he said of the wider media: “How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness.”
When asked by Green who had “blood on their hands”, the prince replied: “Some of the editors and journalists responsible for a lot of the pain and upset.”
The prince told the High Court that being targeted by Mirror Group as a “child at school” was “incredibly invasive” and said his “circle of friends started to shrink” because of newspaper articles about his life. In his witness statement, he said the intrusion had led to a “downward spiral”.
Prince Harry’s claim centres on 33 articles published between September 1996 and April 2009, covering topics such as his relationship with then girlfriend Chelsy Davy, which the royal contends were the result of unlawful information gathering.
The street outside the High Court on Tuesday was packed with camera crews, photographers and journalists as Prince Harry arrived for the first of several legal battles he is fighting against the tabloid press.
In an interview this year with ITV journalist Tom Bradby, the royal described his efforts to change the media as his “life’s work”.
The High Court heard claims on Monday that the prince was targeted by unlawful information gathering from when he was a schoolboy at Eton College, after the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, through to his early adulthood.
“There was no time in his life when he was safe from this,” barrister David Sherborne told the High Court. “Nothing was sacrosanct and out of bounds.”
Mirror Group denies that Prince Harry had his phone hacked or was the target of unlawful information gathering. But it does accept that a private investigator was engaged by a journalist at The People to illegally collect information on his conduct at Chinawhite nightclub on one occasion in February 2004.
Mirror Group either denies or does not admit the 33 articles at the centre of the trial were the result of unlawful activity. It also claims Prince Harry’s lawsuit has been brought too late. The case continues.