Prince Harry became emotional as he finished an intense day of evidence against the publisher of the Daily Mail – telling the High Court his wife Meghan’s life had been made an “absolute misery”.
The Duke of Sussex spent about two hours being cross-examined by Associated Newspapers Limited’s lawyer, at times appearing visibly frustrated with the line of questioning.
He told the court the idea that he has no right to privacy is “disgusting” and it was “fundamentally wrong to put us through this again when all we wanted was an apology and accountability”.
Harry, 41, has brought legal action against Associated Newspapers (ANL) over alleged unlawful information gathering between 1993 and 2011, alongside fellow claimants Baroness Doreen Lawrence, politician Sir Simon Hughes, actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, and Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish.
ANL strongly denies the claims and also says they have been brought too late.
After two days of opening statements from the lawyers for both parties, Harry became the first witness to give evidence on Wednesday.
He told the court: “I have never believed that my life is open season to be commercialised by these people.”
It was right at the end of his evidence, as he mentioned Meghan, that he became emotional.
“They continue to come after me, they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery, my Lord,” he said, his voice faltering.
Liz Hurley and her son Damian attended the first two days of the trial, and she will give evidence later on. Pic: Reuters
The Duchess of Sussex sued ANL and won in 2021 after The Mail on Sunday published parts of a “personal and private” letter to her father, Thomas Markle.
In Harry’s written witness statement, which was released on Tuesday, he told of the “uneasy relationship” he had had with the press ever since the death of his mother, Diana, when he was just 12 years old.
He said that when his relationship with Meghan became public in 2016, he started to become “increasingly troubled by the approach of not taking action against the press” in the wake of “vicious, persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles”.
Harry is relying on 14 articles in his case against ANL.
During his exchanges in court with Anthony White, the lawyer representing ANL, it was clear Harry was frustrated with some of the points being made and told the court he wanted to get his point across.
A couple of times during the hearing, Judge Nicklin politely reminded the duke he did not “have to bear the burden of arguing the case today”, but simply had to answer questions put to him; however, Harry told him he had had a “bad experience” previously.
During his questioning, he denied having “leaky” social circles and said his life had been “commercialised” since he was a teenager, with the press”delving into every aspect of my private life”.
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He also told the court he could not have complained about what he felt was press intrusion when he was an active member of the Royal Family, due to the “institution” he was in, and also because there were “thousands” of articles written about him.
“If you complain, they double down on you, in my experience,” he said.
In a statement shared after the hearing, Prince Harry said: “Today we reminded the Mail Group who is on trial and why.”
In court on Tuesday, Mr White described the case as “threadbare” and said that journalists would show how they sourced articles legitimately.
In written submissions, the lawyer said the publisher “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at the duke.
The trial continues – with Hurley expected to give evidence tomorrow.
