Prince Harry Says Tabloids Have 'Blood on Their Hands'

Prince Harry accused tabloid editors of having "blood on their hands" and said newspaper articles had "an impact on my life, the people around me, my mother in this case."

The Duke of Sussex made history on Tuesday as he took the stand at the Royal Courts of Justice in London to give evidence in his phone-hacking lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). It is the first time a senior royal has given evidence in court since 1891 and the first time ever that one has testified as the claimant in a modern civil litigation. The prince subjected himself to a day-and-a-half of cross-examination by a top barrister.

Harry accused the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People of publishing 147 articles containing information gained through unlawful means between 1996 and 2010.

Harry was asked in the witness box about a statement in which he denounced the media. The prince replied: "Blood on their hands specifically for the article in question? Some of the editors and journalists who are responsible for a lot of pain, upset in some cases, perhaps inadvertently death. I think that's more broadly towards the tabloid press itself.

"Finding out about the unlawful methods, about the information of the article, how it was obtained, certainly shocked me," Harry added. "Every single article has caused me distress."

The duke's comments came during testy exchanges with the MGN's attorney over whether he remembered seeing the articles at the time they were published, including one printed when he was a child.

Andrew Green, attorney for the publisher, said that if Harry had no memory of the specific stories that make up the case, he could not know they caused him the emotional distress he has complained of.

"When I was going through them with my legal team, it certainly jogged memories," the prince told the court. Harry added that the stories had a meaningful impact on his life as "friends at school, colleagues, their behaviour inevitably changed around me."

Green told Harry that he understood how difficult the experience may be for him, given his lifetime of dealing with the tabloid media. He offered the royal the right to take a break if at any point it became too much.

The prince would have begun his testimony a day earlier but for the fact he flew to Britain late Sunday after helping his daughter, Princess Lilibet, celebrate her second birthday.

Judge Sir Timothy Fancourt said in typically restrained terms that he was "a little surprised" by Harry's absence, while Green stated it was "absolutely extraordinary."

Among his allegations, Harry's lawyers accused the Daily Mirror, under the editorship of Piers Morgan, of hacking Princess Diana's phone to get a story about her meeting a celebrity friend, British TV personality Michael Barrymore.

And Harry stated in a witness statement that reporting by MGN titles put pressure on his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, leading her to conclude that "a royal life was not for her."

The collapse of their relationship was "incredibly upsetting" and Harry experienced "huge bouts of depression and paranoia," the duke said in a witness statement to the court.

However, MGN's attorney Green came out fighting in his opening on Monday when he told the court: "There is no evidence to suggests that any phone belonging to the Duke of Sussex was hacked on even one occasion.

"There is no call data whatsoever for the Duke of Sussex and scant call data for his many pleaded associates," Green added. "That is a very difficult starting point for a claimant who seeks to prove that he was habitually hacked, or even that he was hacked once."

The hearing at the High Court, in London, continues.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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