Prince Harry appeared in a United Kingdom courtroom Tuesday, offering testimony against a tabloid publisher he accused of hacking his phone and playing a "destructive role" in his early life.
The fifth-in-line to the throne showed up to London's High Court in a black SUV, passing TV cameras and stepping into the building to testify that U.K. publisher the Daily Mirror engaged in unlawful techniques to get scoops on the British royal family.
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“All of these articles played an important role – a destructive role – in my growing up,” Harry said.
The 38-year-old son of King Charles III said the outlet used such techniques on an "industrial scale" to obtain private information through phone hacking and other illicit means, such as hiring private investigators between 1991 and 2011.
He further alleges that around 140 articles published in titles belonging to Mirror Group contained information gathered using unlawful methods. Thirty-three of those articles were selected to be considered at the trial.
In a written witness statement released at the same time he entered the court, Harry claimed his answering machine messages were hacked when he was a teenager at Eton school.
"My voicemails would include incredibly private and sensitive information about my relationships," Harry said, noting the media and tabloid outlets made him become paranoid and feel as if he couldn't trust anyone.
It was "an awful feeling at such a young age," he wrote, adding that, "Looking back on it now, such behavior on their part is utterly vile." He contends that the tabloids had incited "hatred and harassment" into his and his wife Meghan Markle's private affairs.
An attorney for the Daily Mirror, Andrew Green, cross-examined Harry on some of his evidence, arguing a 1996 story could not have stemmed from Harry's personal messages, citing that he only acquired a mobile phone in 1998. Harry contended there was a landline at his school. Green also countered that the outlet's stories were already in the public domain after other outlets published the same account.
Harry also hit at former Daily Mirror editor turned TV host Piers Morgan, naming the media figure three times in his witness statement. He wrote, "both myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan," who was editor from 1995 to 2004.
The Duke of Sussex is the first senior British royal since the 19th century to face questions in court. Prince Albert Edward, Queen Victoria's eldest son who later became King Edward VII in 1901, appeared as a witness in a trial over a gambling scandal in 1891.
The Mirror Group has paid more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015.
Judges are tasked with deciding whether Harry's claims will proceed to trial. The trial began on May 10 and is expected to last seven weeks.
In a separate legal dispute across the pond, Harry's U.S. visa status is also being questioned in a federal district court in the District of Columbia after he admitted in his recent memoir Spare to using marijuana, cocaine, and psychedelic mushrooms.
The admission is significant because past drug use may be considered grounds to deny a U.S. visa application, according to a lawsuit brought by the Heritage Foundation, one of the top conservative think tanks based in the District of Columbia.
Harry, his wife, and their son Archie left the U.K. in 2020 after "stepping back" from life as working royals and settled in Santa Barbara, California. It's not clear what type of visa Harry is on, and Markle is a U.S. citizen.
The lawsuit argues that "widespread and continuous" media coverage of the duke's admitted drug use calls into question if the government properly vetted him and followed proper procedures when he was admitted into the country.
The Department of Homeland Security contends in court filings that the Heritage Foundation hasn't demonstrated a need for the swift release of his documents.
The Heritage Foundation previously sought the records through U.S. Customs and Border Protection but were denied, saying it needed Harry to consent to his information being released.
Regarding stories about drug use in the U.K., a defense attorney asked whether Harry thought articles about him “breaking the law” were a matter of public interest.
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"There’s a difference between public interest and what interests the public," Harry responded.
A hearing on the matter is slated for 2:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday in the District of Columbia.