Prince Harry appeared at the High Court of London on Tuesday, to testify in his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the owners of several British tabloids, alleging unlawful interception of communications and phone hacking.
The Duke of Sussex arrived at the Rolls building, in Central London, in a black Range Rover, dressed in a black suit, avoiding questions from the reporters as he entered the building. Prince Harry, appearing before the judge, accused MGN of publishing 50 sensationalistic stories that caused him distress, 33 of which are part of the case at hand.
During his testimony, Prince Harry accused the editors and journalists of MGN of having “blood-stained hands,” an allusion to the emotional impact the stories had on him, the tabloids’ reports being “incredibly invasive”. He emphasized that the information provided in some of the articles could only have been obtained through illegal means.
As evidence, Harry pointed to an article in which the tabloids had reported that he and his brother, William, had gone missing the evening of their great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s centenary celebration, an incident which had been previously confirmed by Buckingham Palace. Prince Harry himself speculated that the phone may have been hacked in order to gain such information.
MGN’s attorney, Andrew Green, has suggested that the information was already in the public domain. The proceedings in court of Monday were adjourned and are set to continue next week. In addition to the alleged phone hacking, Prince Harry is also suing the tabloid for alleged misuse of private information and breach of privacy.
Prince Harry has said that he and his brother William were “subjected to a ruthless campaign that exponentially escalated in 2012 with the goal of destroying [their] personas” in the aftermath of their mother Diana’s death.