The last time a British royal was questioned in court was in 1891, when the future Edward VII, Harry’s great-great-great grandfather, was a witness in a slander trial over a card game.
Prince Harry is one of the claimants in a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers.Credit: Getty Images
Papers say no evidence Harry was hacked
MGN, now owned by Reach, has previously admitted its titles were involved in phone-hacking - the illegal interception of mobile voicemails - settling more than 600 claims, but Green has said there was no evidence Harry had ever been a victim.
He argued that some personal information had come from, or was given with the consent of, senior Buckingham Palace aides.
In reference to one article about him not being allowed to return to combat in Afghanistan, Harry said: “It is suspicious that so much is attributed to a royal source.”
In his 50-page written witness statement and in questioning, Harry has said the press had blood on its hands, destroyed his adolescence, ruined relationships with friends and girlfriends, and sowed paranoia and mistrust since 1996 when he was a schoolboy.
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He also broke royal protocol to say he believed the British government, as well as the media, had hit “rock bottom”, while his anger at suggestions his mother, Princess Diana, was a victim of phone-hacking before her death in 1997 was also clear.
Green, who has described some of the prince’s allegations as “total speculation”, quizzed him in detail over 33 newspaper articles whose details Harry claims were obtained unlawfully and many of which related to his relationship with former girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
Harry said intimate details reported about their break-up and arguments about him visiting a strip club had been obtained by phone-hacking, while Green suggested these had been widely reported previously elsewhere.
“This process is as distressing for me as it is for her,” Harry said.
As he wrapped up almost seven-and-a-half hours of questioning, Green asked him whether it was the prince’s case that his phone had been consistently hacked daily over a 15-year period.
“It could’ve been happening on a daily basis, I simply don’t know,” he said. Asked if there was any evidence he had been hacked, Harry replied: “That’s part of the reason why I’m here.”
Reuters