PRINCE Harry today became the first Royal in more than 130 years to give evidence in a trial – unleashing a string of bombshell claims about his life in a six-hour grilling.
But the Duke of Sussex’s testimony struggled to stand up to scrutiny as he was cross-examined over his phone hacking claims, with the prince admitting multiple times “I don’t know”.
Prince Harry left the High Court after a six-hour grilling today
Prince Harry made a series of shock claims after taking to the stand today. Pictured, court artist’s sketch
Prince Harry accused reporters of hacking his phone to find out he had been given the role of Parade Commander at the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) tattoo at Eton
Prince Harry suggested his phone was hacked to reveal details of his mother Princess Diana’s feelings on his 12th birthday. But he didn’t have one then. Pictured in 1995
The 38-year-old – who flew in from his home in LA on Sunday to attend the trial today – had shared a 55-page bombshell brief as part of the phone hacking trial against the Mirror Group papers.
In it, he made dramatic claims that his relationship with Chelsy Davy had been “doomed” due to press coverage, feared he would be “ousted” from the Royal Family over rumours Major James Hewitt was his dad and that the British government had reached “rock bottom”.
In his submission, of 200 points, he also claimed he was called “the ‘thicko’, the ‘cheat’, the ‘underage drinker’, the ‘‘irresponsible drug taker'” during his teenage years.
Harry added: “I thought that… I may as well ‘do the crime’, so to speak.”
But as he was quizzed by Mirror group lawyer Andrew Green KC, Prince Harry repeatedly told the High Court “I don’t know” – describing his experience on the stand as “stressful”.
At one point Prince Harry answered questions on whether reporters could have spoken to a source to get information on flight times during a holiday with then-girlfriend Chelsy – rather than hacking phones.
He replied: “I’m unsure. It could be phone hacking, blagging, of course security, Chelsy and numerous other people would be in the knowledge.”
And the duke even tried to turned the questions on the Mirror’s lawyer Mr Green.
“I am here to cross-examine you, I am afraid that’s the way this works, Prince Harry,” Mr Green said when Prince Harry suggested the lawyer direct his questions to others.
During the grilling, Harry even faced questions over whether he had written his own witness statement – with the duke insisting he had.
Multiple inconsistencies came to light during the duke’s first day on the stand, including:
18th BIRTHDAY
Prince Harry has alleged his phone was hacked to reveal how he was planning on celebrating his 18th birthday.
He complained an article ‘No Eton trifles for Harry’ was “suspicious” in his witness statement.
But the court heard he had given an interview revealing the same details to the Press Association (PA) before the article was published.
In his witness statement, Harry said: “This article, which appeared on page 7 of the Daily Mirror, reported details of the way I celebrated my 18th birthday, which included a low-profile lunch with my father and brother at home and details of the present my uncle had gifted me.”
Mr Green told the court that these details, including a gift of golf clubs received from Earl Spencer and having a “quiet day at home with my father, my brother, and my family” were actually said by Prince Harry himself in the PA interview.
Andrew Green KC told the court: “The private information about which you complain in the Daily Mirror article had been revealed by you in an interview and published in many Sunday newspapers.”
When questioned about it, Harry added only that he felt “the timing is suspicious”.
PRINCESS DIANA’S BUTLER
Questions swirled over whether Prince Harry wanted to meet with Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell after he gave interviews following her 1997 death.
The prince had “very strong feelings” about how indiscreet Mr Burrell was after Princess Diana’s death, according to his witness statement.
Mr Green pointed out Prince Harry wrote in his autobiography Spare he wanted to meet Mr Burrell to hold him accountable.
He wrote: “We welcomed such a meeting. To one newspaper he vowed he’d love to give us a piece of his mind. I waited anxiously for the meeting. It didn’t happen. I told myself shame.”
But in his witness statement he claimed he never wanted to see him again.
He wrote: “I had made up my mind about the kind of person I thought Paul was and was firmly against meeting him at this point in my life.”
In court he added: “I can’t remember whether I wanted a meeting with him or not.”
Questions swirled over whether Prince Harry wanted to meet with Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell after he gave interviews following her 1997 death
He also admitted calling Mr Burrell, a “two faced s***” in 2003.
He said: “I also would have used the phrase ‘two-face s***’, as is reported.”
In court he added: “That is the terminology I would use. I don’t specifically remember leaving a voicemail saying that because of the time that’s passed.”
HARRY TO LEAD CADETS
Another article, ‘Harry to lead cadet’s march’, was shared by the Press Association the day before it was published by the Mirror.
Prince Harry had been given the role of Parade Commander at the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) tattoo at Eton.
Reporters have been accused of phone hacking to discover Prince Harry’s role.
But the information was put into the public domain by St James’s Palace, Mr Green told the court.
Prince Harry admitted he had not been aware of the PA story yet still maintained that the article was “suspicious” due to the “illegal activity that was happening behind that”.
NO MOBILE PHONE
Prince Harry suggested his phone was hacked to reveal details of his mother Princess Diana’s feelings on his 12th birthday.
But Mr Green said his phone couldn’t have been hacked at the time one of the articles was published, when Prince Harry was 12 years old, because he didn’t yet own one.
He said Prince Harry was first handed a mobile phone when he went to Eton in 1998.
The article titled “Diana so sad on Harry’s big day” reveals details of a visit Diana made to his school in 1996.
Prince Harry said he can’t remember for sure whether he had a mobile at the time because it was “years ago”.
Mr Green said Prince Harry didn’t have a mobile at the time so it couldn’t have been hacked.
But Prince Harry said his mother Princess Diana called him using a landline phone.
Harry said he and his brother Prince William would use a landline phone in a room at Ludgrove School to call his mother Princess Diana on Sunday night “in tears” after she dropped the two boys off at the boarding school.
In a brief moment of levity Harry joked “it’s like we’re doing a workout” when asked by Andrew Green KC to move between the heavy court bundles containing the documents of his case.
The “Diana so sad” piece also revealed Harry was taking the royal divorce “badly” – a fact Andrew Green KC pointed out had already been said by Princess Diana herself to the Press Association months previously.
GASTRO-PUB TIP OFF
For his 16th birthday Prince Harry wanted to celebrate with a quiet meal with pals at a London gastropub.
Paparazzi appeared during the meal and Prince Harry believed they knew where to go because of phone hacking.
Yet, he had no response when Mr Green suggested celebrity chef Eddie Baines, then working at The Ifield Pub in Chelsea, could have been behind the leak.
Prince Harry alleges the article ‘3am – HARRY’S TIME AT THE BAR’ was obtained unlawfully.
He said: “I was hoping to have a private lunch with friends and somehow a photographer found me and somehow a story ended up in the newspaper about it.”
Mr Green asked if someone in the restaurant could have made the call to the press about his meal there.
Prince Harry said: “As a chef I would imagine he would be quite busy to make a call.”
When told that the chef would have assistants to help him, Harry said: “I have no idea, I have never worked in a kitchen.”
When asked if he could have been spotted walking on the way to the bar, Harry said: “I don’t walk down the street.”
He admitted: “I have no idea how this article […] made their way into a newspaper and how they were obtained.”
He looked solemn as he got out of a black Range Rover this morning
