Duke of Sussex says press branded him ’a thicko, cheat and underage drinker’

The Duke of Sussex took to the witness box in his High Court case, where he said the tabloid press branded him “a thicko, cheat and underage drinker”.

The Duke of Sussex said the tabloid press branded him “a thicko, cheat and underage drinker”, as he took to the witness stand at the High Court in London to accuse Mirror Group Newspapers of phone hacking and illegal intrusion into his private life.

Agreeing to be referred to as Prince Harry rather than his royal highness, the prince made history on Tuesday, becoming the first senior member of the royal family in more than 130 years to give evidence from the witness box, where he blamed the British tabloid press for the rift with his brother that has forced apart the royal family.

Appearing relaxed in court facing the publisher’s barrister Andrew Green KC, who is described as “a fearless and fearsome cross-examiner”, the exiled royal claimed the hacking of voicemails by journalists led to his girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, ending their relationship despite the prince being “madly in love” with her.

Prince Harry and his then girlfriend Chelsy Davy in 2008.

During Mr Green’s cross-examination of Prince Harry, he referred to one incident of unlawful information gathering, earlier admitted by the publisher, and offered an “unreserved apology,” saying it “should have never happened and it will not happen again”.

Prince Harry said the newspaper articles about him left him paranoid and were everywhere: “Newspapers are always in every single Palace, unfortunately, as well as some of the articles I may have not remembered or seen at the time – the vast majority of them were read by other people in my circle.”

As a result of the articles, he said their behaviour “changed around me”.

“The era is somewhat different compared to now and in 1996. I was a child, I was at school. These articles are incredibly invasive and every single time these articles were written it had an effect on me, my life and the people around me – including my mother,” he told Mr Green.

The Duke claimed he experienced hostility from the press since he was 12 and that he realised his paranoia about the press was “not misplaced” when details of his voicemails to his family, friends and girlfriends were published by MGN.

“Finding out about the unlawful methods of how the information of these articles was obtained certainly shocked me,” he told the court.

The Duke of Sussex arrives to give evidence at the Mirror Group phone hacking trial at the Rolls Building at High Court in London, England. Picture: WireImage

In the Duke’s 55-page witness statement, he confirms he is trying to hold people in the press “to account”.

“How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone will put a stop to this madness,” Prince Harry wrote, referring to journalists.

“There’s more than thousands, perhaps millions of articles that have been written about me since age 12,” he adds.

“When private information that I have only shared with one or two people ends up on the front page of a newspaper – your circle of friends starts to shrink and diminish,” the Duke told the court.

Prince Harry says the tabloid press typecast him from birth and became the “third party” in every relationship he held.

In his witness statement, he said his decision to move to California with his wife Meghan Markle was “in large part … due to the constant intrusion, inciting of hatred and harassment by the tabloid press into every aspect of our private lives, which had a devastating impact on our mental health and wellbeing”.

“We were also very concerned for the security and safety of our son.”

His witness statement went on: “It is no secret that I have had, and continue to have, a very difficult relationship with the tabloid press in the UK.

“In my experience as a member of the Royal Family, each of us gets cast into a specific role by the tabloid press.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Picture: Andrew Milligan/WPA Pool/Getty Image)

“You start off as a blank canvas while they work out what kind of person you are and what kind of problems and temptations you might have.

“They then start to edge you towards playing the role or roles that suit them best and which sells as many newspapers as possible.

“You’re either a playboy prince, a failure or drop out, or in my case the thicko, the cheat or underage drinker …. The irresponsible drug taker. They took greater pleasure in knocking me down.”

His statement goes on: “Whenever I have been in a relationship, I have always tried to be the best partner that I possibly could, but every woman has had a limit.

“Unfortunately, they are not just in a relationship with me, but with the entire tabloid press as the third party.

“At no point did I have a girlfriend or relationship with anyone without the tabloids, getting involved and ultimately trying to ruin it, using whatever unlawful means at their disposal … my paranoia was not misplaced.”

MGN refutes the accusations, Mr Green maintaining there was no evidence to show phone hacking took place in the case of the royal and Duke of Sussex had brought his case too late.

His statement claimed the evidence disclosed by MGN in this case reveals its newspapers made 289 payments to private investigators for information relating to both him and his associates.

“I understand from my solicitors [that these] are huge numbers in the context of this litigation, especially considering that the defendant is known to have concealed and destroyed evidence of their wrongdoing on an industrial scale,” he wrote.

“I now realise that my acute paranoia of being constantly under surveillance was not misplaced after all.”

“I was also shocked and disgusted to discover that my name and mobile number were in a contact list belonging to known hacker, Nick Buckley (a Sunday Mirror editor), which is further proof that I was a victim of voicemail interception and unlawful information gathering.”

The frontpages of Britain's newspapers featuring the story that Princess Diana was ready to divorce the Prince of Walesin 1996. Picture: AP Photo/Jacqueline Arzt

Cross-examining the Duke on the 1996 divorce Daily Mirror article, when his mother Princess Diana visited at Ludgrove School on his 12th birthday, Mr Green said there was no evidence of invoices relating to it and the visit had been publicly confirmed by her spokesman to the Press Association two days before.

“A lot of the evidence was destroyed,” the Duke said, adding the timing of the invoices was “incredibly suspicious”.

The Duke admitted he has “little to go on” – instead making several broader statements about press intrusion.

Referring to an article in the Daily Mirror, titled ‘3am - Harry’s time at the bar’ (Sept 19 2000), about Prince Harry’s birthday celebrations including his whereabouts at a lunch in Chelsea, London, Mr Green points out that Sunday lunchtime on Fulham Road is a “busy time” and that people may have seen Prince Harry walking down the street.

“No, I don’t walk down streets,” the Duke said.

Mr Green has asked Prince Harry about a November 11, 2000, article about a broken thumb that attributes a doctor, the Duke says: “Not only do I have no idea how they would know that, but that instils all sorts of paranoia for a boy in school who needs to go to the medical centre but who now can’t trust the doctors.”

PRINCE HARRY TAKES THE STAND

The Duke of Sussex arrived at the High Court on Tuesday to take on the tabloid press he blames for the rift with his brother that has forced apart the royal family.

Prince Harry waved to the waiting press at the court where he will face publisher Mirror Group Newspapers, which he accuses of phone hacking and illegal intrusion into his private life, becoming the first senior member of the royal family in more than 130 years to give evidence from the witness box.

Appearing relaxed in court, the Duke was sworn in by the judge as he prepared to explain why he believes the 207 newspapers used unlawful techniques to gather information on him.

He agreed to be referred to as Prince Harry, rather than his royal highness in court.

Prince Harry arrives to give evidence at the Mirror Group phone hacking trial at the High Court in London, England. Prince Harry is one of several claimants in a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers related to allegations of unlawful information gathering in previous decades. Picture: Getty Images

The duke will need to bring facts, or overwhelmingly compelling circumstantial evidence, to court to back his claims.

The task for Andrew Green KC, the Mirror Group‘s barrister, is to demolish the prince’s case piece by piece. The Legal 500 - a guide to top lawyers - describes him as “a fearless and fearsome cross-examiner”

The exiled royal claims that the hacking of voicemails by journalists led to his girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, ending their relationship, despite the prince being “madly in love” with her, the court was told on Monday.

His barrister David Sherborne said Harry was subjected to unlawful information-gathering “from when he was a boy” and “nothing was sacrosanct”.

David Sherborne arrives for the Mirror Group Phone hacking trial at the High Court in London. Picture: Neil P. Mockford/Getty Images

Letters between his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and the television entertainer Michael Barrymore about their “highly sensitive meetings” were published in the Mirror, showing that her phone was also hacked, Sherborne said.

Judge Justice Fancourt said he was “surprised” Harry had failed to appear yesterday, despite being ordered to attend to give evidence in his claim against the publisher.

Instead, Harry flew to London from Los Angeles on Sunday evening after spending the day celebrating the second birthday of his daughter, Princess Lilibet, at their home in California. Sherborne explained Harry’s travel arrangements were “different” than for other witnesses.

Barrister for MGN Andrew Green KC, maintained there was no evidence to show phone hacking took place in the case of the royal and Harry had brought his case too late.

Sherborne said unlawful intrusion into Harry’s life began when he was 12 “through the tragic death of his mother”, his joining the Sandhurst military academy and into young adulthood and his time at Eton College.

“The only place he might escape the pressure … was from friendships and relationships [but] nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds,” he said.

Prince Harry arrived later than expected, delayed by his daughter Lilibet’s birthday. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The rift between Harry and his brother, Prince William, began with a report in December 2003 on their approach to their mother’s butler. “It’s easy to see how … the seeds of discord are starting to be sown,” Sherborne said. “Trust becomes eroded and paranoia is fostered.”

In his witness statement, Harry highlighted three letters from his mother to Barrymore, which allegedly show how activities by the tabloid press left her “isolated” shortly before her death.

Quoting a letter Diana wrote to Barrymore, he said she was “devastated” to hear the Mirror was telephoning her office to ask about their “six meetings”, Sherborne said.

The letter apologised, “How deeply sorry I am [that] what I considered to be a private matter has become public property”.

Emotional phone conversations with first love Chelsey Davy, tears, aged 12, over his parents’ divorce and confidential medical records revealing a rugby school sports injury are evidence of press phone hacking and intrusion, the Duke of Sussex is expected to argue today in the High Court.

Prince Harry will take the witness stand to accuse the British media of illegal intrusion into his private life as he accuses Mirror Group Newspapers of hiring private investigators to obtain secret information about his private life for 33 articles published in 33 in the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People between 1996 and 2010.

The case continues.

Originally published as Duke of Sussex says press branded him ’a thicko, cheat and underage drinker’