Prince Harry set for another bombshell day in court after being accused of veering into the ‘realm of total speculation’
PRINCE Harry is set for another bombshell day in court after he was accused of veering into the “realm of total speculation” as he was grilled in the dock.
The Duke of Sussex is expected at the High Court this morning for another day of gruelling questioning from Mirror Group Newspaper’s lawyer in the phone hacking trial.
Yesterday, the fifth-in-line to the throne spent five hours in the stand – the first senior royal to be questioned in a courtroom in 130 years.
He made a series of shock claims about his private life, including that he feared he’d be “ousted from the Royal Family”, felt his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was “doomed” and struggled in school after he was labelled “thick”.
In a 55-page legal document he names ex-flame Chelsy 104 times while wife Meghan is referred to by name only twice.
And he repeatedly called Chelsy “my girlfriend” during his evidence.
He was accused of being in the “realm of total speculation” after he admitted to Andrew Green KC he “isn’t sure” his phone was hacked.
Prince Harry, 38, was questioned over accusations the Mirror group listened to voicemails to gain insight into arguments with Chelsy.
Mr Green said: “You are inferring there was a message on a voicemail referring to you being given a tongue-lashing. That is simply in the realm of total speculation.”
Harry was also admonished over his allegations that a journalist must have hacked a phone for a story about him injuring his thumb at Eton College.
Pressed on which phone would have been hacked, the prince said he “can’t be sure”.
Mr Green responded: “That’s not an answer.” Harry said: “The doctor’s? I’m not sure.”
Mr Green then hit back: “Are we not, Prince Harry, in the realms of total speculation?”
The duke replied: “I’m not the one who wrote the article. You’d have to ask the journalist.”
Mr Green also revealed the Palace had issued a comment on the injury 24 hours earlier.
Prince Harry told the court: “I wasn’t aware of it.”
At one point Mr Green told him: “You are accusing journalists of having been involved in criminal activity. Does it strike you a little unfair as the information came from another article and with the cooperation of the Palace?”
The court was also told that his trusted mentor Mark “Marko” Dyer provided quotes for another article in which he claimed information was illegally obtained.
Harry, clearly surprised, said: “I see the similarities. I have never spoken to him about it.”
In his submission yesterday, Prince Harry revealed he feared rumours his biological father was James Hewitt could see him “ousted” from his family.
‘HURTFUL, MEAN AND CRUEL’
He hadn’t realised until he was 30 years old that Major Hewitt only met Princess Diana after Prince Harry was born.
He added: “At the time, I wasn’t actually aware that my mother hadn’t met Major Hewitt until after I was born. This timeline is something I only learnt of in around 2014.”
He added the rumours were “very damaging and very real to me”.
“They were hurtful, mean and cruel,” he said.
Elsewhere during the trial, a softly spoken Prince Harry revealed he struggled at school.
He said he was labelled “the ‘thicko’, the ‘cheat’, the ‘underage drinker’, the ‘‘irresponsible drug taker'” during his teenage years.
He added: “I thought that… I may as well ‘do the crime’, so to speak.”
He went on to explain he was afraid he would be expelled from Eton over claims he was taking drugs.
He added: “Eton had a zero drugs policy in place, and I was extremely worried I was going to be expelled.”
He then launched an attack on the government, claiming it was at “rock bottom”.
Prince Harry’s trial has heard so far:
- The Duke of Sussex claimed he ‘played into’ the role of ‘thicko’
- Harry claimed his phone may have been hacked in 1996 – but didn’t have a mobile phone at the time, the High Court heard
- He said he felt like his relationship with Chelsy – who he dated between 2004 and 2011 – was ‘doomed’
- Harry revealed he had been ‘immature’ and made a ‘stupid decision’ after flirting with a brunette at a party in 2005 while dating Chelsy
- King Charles’ son felt rumours that his biological father was James Hewitt were ‘very real’ and left him feeling he ‘might be ousted from the Royal Family’
- The duke admitted to calling his mother’s former butler Paul Burrell a ‘two-faced s***’ in 2003
- Harry said the stories had an effect on his mother, Princess Diana, and “her reaction to me as her son”
The Duke of Sussex has also claimed phone hacking was used to find out how he had celebrated his 18th birthday – but the court heard it was in fact information he had already revealed himself in a public interview.
An article called No Eton Trifles for Harry used quotes taken from an interview Prince Harry gave to the Press Association (PA).
It revealed he was given a gift of golf clubs from his uncle Earl Spencer and would have a “quiet day at home with my father, my brother, and my family”.
Mr Green told the court these details were actually said by Prince Harry himself in the PA interview.
Mr Green 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, Harry added: “The timing is suspicious.”
During the cross-examination, Prince Harry repeatedly told Mr Green “I don’t know”.
‘STUPID DECISION’
When probed on an article about becoming a godfather for his former nanny Tiggy’s brother’s son, Harry said: “It’s not particularly enjoyable to have to go through this process all over again.”
Another article ‘Harry to lead cadet’s march’ was revealed the day before by the Press Association after 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 and still maintained the article was “suspicious” due to the “illegal activity that was happening behind that”.
Elsewhere, Prince Harry said he felt like his relationship with then-girlfriend Chelsy was “doomed” during the 2007 coverage of their relationship.
Harry revealed he was “immature” and made a “stupid decision” after it was reported he flirted with a brunette at a party in 2005.
He also promised Chelsy in 2006 he was not given a lap dance at the Spearmint Rhino club, the court heard.
And he admitted calling his mother’s former butler, Paul 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.”
The prince had “very strong feelings” about how indiscreet Mr Burrell was after Princess Diana’s death, according to his witness statement.
Prince Harry gave evidence yesterday after flying in from LA for the trial as part of the action against the Mirror Group papers.
He only left the US on Sunday night after marking his daughter Lilibet’s second birthday.
His missing the first day sparked Justice Fancourt to say he was surprised Harry was not in court on stand-by for the witness box.
Yesterday Harry became the first royal questioned in a UK courtroom for 130 years.
The last senior royal to be cross-examined in court was the future King Edward VII in 1891, in what became known as the royal baccarat scandal.
An “extremely nervous” Prince Edward was forced to give evidence in a slander case after arguing with his friend in 1890.
And Prince Harry is the first senior royal to be involved in court proceedings since 2002, when the Princess Royal pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act after her pet bit two children in Windsor Great Park.
Harry alleges that about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 of these have been selected to be considered at the trial.
The publisher has apologised unreservedly to Prince Harry for unlawfully gathering information about him but denies phone hacking.
5 KEY INCONSISTENCIES
FIVE of Prince Harry’s key claims struggled to stand up to scrutiny.
- His lawyers claimed details about his 18th birthday party were obtained from voicemails when they were from an interview he gave to the Press Association news agency.
- He said he did not want to meet Paul Burrell but in Spare he wrote that he wanted to confront him.
- Harry called a story about his leading a cadet parade at Eton “very suspicious”. It was put into the public domain by St James’s Palace.
- He complained of phone hacking fears from 1996 but admitted in court he did not own a mobile then.
- He said a story about a meal at a Chelsea pub for his 16th birthday came from hacking — yet then added that he had “no idea” how it was obtained.