London: Prince Harry entered the witness box Wednesday for his testimony against the publisher of the Daily Mail in the final round of his battle against the British tabloids.
Harry says in his lengthy witness statement that he was distressed and disturbed by the intrusion of his early life by the Mail and its sister Sunday newspaper, and it made him “paranoid beyond belief.”
Harry and six other prominent figures, including Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, allege that Associated Newspapers Ltd. invaded their privacy by engaging in a “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” for two decades.
Defence lawyer Antony White immediately began cross-examining Harry on his written evidence. The company has vehemently denied the allegations and says witnesses from the newspapers will name names of sources when they testify in the nine-week trial.
Harry was dressed in a dark suit as he stepped up to the witness box. He held a small Bible in his right hand as he swore on “almighty God that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
The Duke of Sussex said he preferred to be addressed simply as Prince Harry. It is his second time testifying after he bucked House of Windsor tradition and became the first senior royal to testify in a court in well over a century when he took the stand in his similar lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror in 2023.
