Harry Takes the Stand in London: Big Moments

Prince is testifying in phone hacking case against tabloids
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2023 6:49 AM CDT
Harry Takes the Stand in London: Big Moments
Prince Harry arrives at the High Court in London, Tuesday, June 6, 2023.   (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Prince Harry made a little history in London on Tuesday: He became the first prominent member of the royal family to testify in court in more than a century, notes the New York Times. Harry is on the stand testifying against a tabloid publisher, the Mirror Group, he accuses of hacking his phone years ago to get his voicemails, mostly from 1991 to 2011, per the Guardian. Some of the early moments of his testimony and his witness statement:

  • "I remember on multiple occasions hearing a voicemail for the first time that wasn’t new—I would simply put it down to perhaps a technical glitch ... or even just having too many drinks the night before and having forgotten that I’d listened to it," he said, per the BBC. Other times, the voicemail symbol would disappear before he listened to it, or people wouldn't get voicemails he sent them.
  • "It created a huge amount of paranoia in my relationships. I would become immediately suspicious of anyone that was named in a story about me. ... "I felt that I couldn’t trust anybody, which was an awful feeling for me especially at such a young age."

  • "I've experienced hostility from the press since I was born," Harry said. When pressed by a defense lawyer if he remembered reading a particular article cited in his lawsuit that came out when he was 12, he responded: "I was a child, I was at school. These articles were incredibly invasive, and every single time one was written it had an effect on my life and the people around me, my mother in this case."
  • He said some editors and journalists have "blood on their hands" and were responsible for “causing pain and upset” and “perhaps, inadvertently death."
  • The BBC notes that he was addressed as "your royal highness" initially but asked to be called "Prince Harry."
  • In his written statement, Harry wrote that "I genuinely feel that in every relationship that I’ve ever had—be that with friends, girlfriends, with family, or with the army, there’s always been a third party involved, namely the tabloid press," per the AP.
  • Harry also went after Piers Morgan, who was once editor of the Daily Mirror. "The thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages ... makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behaviour," he said in his statement.
(More Prince Harry stories.)

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