Prince Harry on Tuesday appeared before the High Court in London where he attacked the UK government branding it ‘rock bottom’.
His appearence in court made him became the first British royal to testify in open court since 1891.
During his court appearence, Prince Harry addressed several controversial issues including rumours that Princess Diana’s lover James Hewitt was his father.
The Duke of Sussex lambasted No 10 as part of his historic appearance in the witness box at the High Court in London this morning, and also referred to Paul Burrell as a ‘two-face s***’.
In an astonishing trashing of the convention that royals avoid meddling in politics, Harry raged about the ‘state of our press and our government – both of which I believe are at rock bottom’.
The fifth in line to the throne has become the first senior royal to give evidence in one of the Monarch’s courts in 132 years, as he sues the Mirror’s publisher for alleged hacking, which it denies.
And as the world was captivated by Harry’s landmark appearance, he used his pulpit beneath the High Court coat of arms of his father the Sovereign to claim:
- Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell was a ‘two-faced s***’
Stories about James Hewitt being his ‘biological father’ made him fear ‘I might be ousted from the Royal Family’
He worried he would be expelled from Eton for taking drugs
Diana’s supposed paranoia mirrored his own fears of friends betraying him
Journalists hacked his girlfriend Chelsy Davy after he dressed as a fancy-dress Nazi
‘Horrific personal attacks and intimidation’ on him and Meghan were allegedly made by former editor Piers Morgan
He is exposing media ‘criminality’ for moral reasons and as ‘a soldier upholding important values’
The duke, dressed in a white shirt, purple tie, and navy blue suit, arrived in a black Range Rover at the Royal Courts of Justice’s modern wing the Rolls Building. He stepped into the Court 15 witness box at 10.28am.
And in his most outspoken attack on the British Press yet, Harry demanded: ‘How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness.’
The 38-year-old prince proclaimed he was motivated by wanting to ‘save journalism as a profession’.
During cross-examination today, Andrew Green KC, for MGN, asked Harry about part of his witness statement in which he states: ‘How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness.’
Mr Green asked if the duke meant ‘blood on their hands’ in relation to a specific article, and further asked him what he meant by it.
Harry said: ‘Some of the editors and journalists that are responsible for causing a lot of pain, upset and in some cases, speaking personally, death.’
He then said his reference to ‘blood on their hands’ was ‘more broadly towards the press’ in general, adding: ‘I haven’t named the journalists in that particular paragraph.’
He later suggested that his father King Charles may have been hacked.
Harry was questioned on a Mirror article titled ‘Harry’s cocaine, ecstasy and GHB parties’ – where Charles was describe as ‘worried sick’ but then ‘hugely relieved’ when told Harry had only used cannabis.
Harry said these words were attributed to his father as quotes.
But Andrew Green, representing MGN, denied this, saying it was a ‘description of feelings’. Mr Green then asked if Harry believed Charles was a victim of phone hacking.
He said: ‘Potentially unlawful information gathering, yes’.
Harry was then asked about whether his own drug use, an illegal act, was in the public interest when as a teenager he was then third in line to the throne. He is now fifth in line.
Suggesting it was not, he said: ‘There’s a difference between public interest – and what interests the public’.
There was also a heated moment in court when Mr Green said the royal had failed to answer a question about when he injured his thumb at school playing football.
The KC asked if he thought the story came from phone hacking or unlawful information gathering.
‘Both,’ he replied.
Pressed on which phone would have been hacked, the prince said he ‘can’t be sure’.
‘That’s not an answer,’ Mr Green said, asking him again.
‘The doctors? I’m not sure,’ Harry says.
Mr green then hit back: ‘Are we not, Prince Harry, in the realms of total speculation?’
Many of his bombshell remarks were in a written witness statement, which he had prepared in advance and swore on oath was true. It was released as he took the stand.
An usher handed him a bible and asked him to hold it in a raised hand.
She asked him to repeat after her: ‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’
Harry stared straight ahead and repeated the phrase word-perfect.
He was then asked by his barrister David Sherborne to confirm he would like to be referred to as Prince Harry. He asked him to view his 55-page witness statement, check his signature and confirm its truthfulness.
The duke’s statement was then released to the public. It is a wide-ranging attack on the Mirror group’s newspapers, the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People, which he claims intruded into his childhood, adolescence and adulthood. He claims he and his mother Princess Diana were both hacked, along with his family, friends and royal aides.
His 25,538-word statement contains five mentions of his wife, Meghan, and 118 mentions of his first serious girlfriend Chelsy Davy. He blames the Press attention for Miss Davy dumping him, saying that ultimately she ‘made the decision that a Royal life was not for her, which was incredibly upsetting for me at the time’.
Prince Harry started giving his evidence at the High Court today for his phone hacking trial against the publisher of the Daily Mirror – becoming the first royal to testify in open court since 1891.
The Duke of Sussex jetted into the UK from California on Monday and looked relaxed and even smiled as he entered the High Court’s modern annexe – the Rolls Building – saying ‘good morning’ to the waiting press.
Yesterday he was criticised by one of Britain’s top judges and accused of wasting court time after missing the first day of his historic case – to celebrate his daughter Lilibet’s birthday in Montecito before flying to Britain.
Harry and three others are suing the Mirror group claiming the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspaper hacked their phones or conducted other illegal activity, which is denied.
