The youngest son of Charles III, aged 38, began giving his testimony before the High Court in London, where proceedings against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) have been taking place since May 10th.
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Harry, two television actors and the ex-wife of a comedian accuse this group, publishers of the Mirror newspaper and Sunday People magazine, among numerous publications, of obtaining details about their lives between 1996 and 2011 through illegal methods, including hacking of cell phones.
“More than thousands, perhaps millions of articles have been written about me since I was 11 years old,” he recalled, although, in this case, the judge analyzed only 33 of them.
The prince also denounced “the invasion of the press for most of my life to this day”.
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“Each of these articles caused me pain,” he declared, citing information that sometimes goes back more than 20 years and which he admitted he does not remember accurately.
“As a child, every one of these articles was a distraction growing up,” he insisted, recalling that information about such sensitive issues as his reaction to the divorce of his parents, then-Prince Charles and the now-deceased Princess Diana, “was in every palaces.”
“Other people, friends, schoolmates read the materials and their behavior changed,” he said in a shy and hesitant voice.
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He also said that this made him “paranoid” in his relationships, distrusting anyone who could provide information about him, and led him to reduce his circle of friends.
Although he found it “difficult to believe how (the newspaper) could have obtained (some information) any other way,” other than “hacking” his phone messages, he was unable to provide evidence regarding these accusations.
For him, the UK's reputation has been damaged by ties between the media and the government.
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“Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government, and I think both are at an all-time low,” he said.
“Democracy fails when the press does not scrutinize or hold government accountable and instead chooses to get in bed with them to ensure the status quo,” he added.
– Tense relations –
The Duke of Sussex has not returned to the country since his father's coronation ceremony on May 6, which he attended without his wife, American actress Meghan Markle. He left shortly after the event, returning to the USA, where the couple has lived since 2020.
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His statement on Tuesday is the first from a British royal since Edward VII, who testified in a libel trial in 1891 before taking the throne.
At the beginning of the process, in May, MGN acknowledged “some signs” of the illegal collection of information about Harry on a single occasion, apologized and assured, at the time, that “this conduct will not be repeated”.
His lawyer, Andrew Green, however, denied that the voicemails were intercepted and argued that some lawsuits were filed too late, decades after the alleged events.
Harry already appeared by surprise in a London court in March, in another lawsuit for breach of privacy filed by several celebrities - such as singer Elton John - against the group Associated Newspapers Ltd, publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper. But he did not speak at the trial, only presenting his testimony in writing.
The prince, fifth in line to the throne, and his wife maintain very tense relations with the press.
A few weeks ago, both reported that they suffered an “almost catastrophic” car chase by paparazzi on the streets of New York. Local authorities played down the episode, which was reminiscent of the 1997 traffic accident in Paris that killed Harry's mother, Princess Diana, while he was chased by photographers.
The prince recently accused other members of the British monarchy of collusion with the press.
In documents filed with the courts in April, it claimed the royal family had reached a “secret agreement” with a publisher to prevent any of its members from having to give evidence. This prevented him, Harry claimed, from taking action while he was a royal.
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