Prince Harry stepped into courtroom witness box Tuesday (June 6) to hold BritainB次元官网网址檚 tabloid press accountable for its B次元官网网址渄estructiveB次元官网网址� role throughout his life. But he soon found himself being held to account by a newspaperB次元官网网址檚 lawyer for how he could blame his anguish on articles he couldnB次元官网网址檛 remember reading.

The Duke of Sussex became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in over a century as he held a Bible in his right hand and, in a soft voice, swore to tell the B次元官网网址渨hole truth and nothing but the truthB次元官网网址� in the High Court in London.

Harry accuses the publisher of the Daily Mirror of using unlawful techniques on an B次元官网网址渋ndustrial scaleB次元官网网址� to score front-page scoops on his life.

Sitting in the witness box, dressed in a dark suit and tie, Harry told Mirror Group B次元官网网址papers attorney Andrew Green that he had B次元官网网址渆xperienced hostility from the press since I was born.B次元官网网址� The prince accused the tabloids of playing B次元官网网址渁 destructive role in my growing-up.B次元官网网址�

Harry was forced almost immediately to acknowledge that he wasnB次元官网网址檛 sure he could recall the 33 specific articles he was complaining about from the thousands he said had been written about him.

B次元官网网址淚s it realistic, when you have been the subject of so much press intrusion by so many press, both domestic and international, to attribute specific distress to a particular article from 20 years ago, which you may not have seen at the time?B次元官网网址� Green asked.

B次元官网网址淚t isnB次元官网网址檛 a specific article, it is all of the articles,B次元官网网址� Harry said. B次元官网网址淓very single article has caused me distress.B次元官网网址�

The case dates from 1996 to 2011 B次元官网网址� a period when phone hacking by tabloid journalists was later discovered to be widespread. It led to later revelations of more intrusive means such as phone tapping, home bugging and obtaining bank and medical records by deception.

Harry said the articles caused him to become depressed and paranoid, distrustful of friends, who he feared were feeding information to the media. His circle of friends shrank, relationships fell apart and he felt constantly in the glare of the journalists who were shaping the narrative of his life.

B次元官网网址淚 genuinely feel that in every relationship that IB次元官网网址檝e ever had B次元官网网址� be that with friends, girlfriends, with family or with the army, thereB次元官网网址檚 always been a third party involved, namely the tabloid press,B次元官网网址� Harry said in a written witness statement released Tuesday.

Green asked Harry to identify what evidence he had of phone hacking in specific articles, and Harry repeatedly said heB次元官网网址檇 have to ask that question of the journalist who wrote it. He continually insisted that the manner in which information had been obtained was highly or incredibly suspicious.

He said some of the journalists had been known for hacking or that there were invoices to third parties, including private investigators known for snooping, around the time of the articles.

When asked how reporters could have hacked his phone for an article about his 12th birthday B次元官网网址� a time when he admitted he didnB次元官网网址檛 have a mobile phone B次元官网网址� he suggested they may have hacked the phone of his mother, the late Princess Diana.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 just speculation youB次元官网网址檝e come up with now,B次元官网网址� Green suggested.

The attorney then pointed out that a reference in the same article to him taking his parentsB次元官网网址� divorce badly was obvious.

B次元官网网址淟ike most children, I think, yes,B次元官网网址� Harry said.

But the prince said it was not legitimate to report such information and B次元官网网址渢he methods in which it was obtained seem incredibly suspicious.B次元官网网址�

Green then pointed out that his mother previously made public comments to reporters about the difficulties her children faced after the divorce.

The 38-year-old son of King Charles III is the first senior British royal since the 19th century to face questioning in a court. An ancestor, the future King Edward VII, appeared as a witness in a trial over a gambling scandal in 1891.

Harry has made a mission of holding the U.K. media to account for what he sees as their hounding of him and his family.

Setting out the princeB次元官网网址檚 case in court Monday, his lawyer, David Sherborne, said that from HarryB次元官网网址檚 childhood, British newspapers used hacking and subterfuge to mine snippets of information that could be turned into front-page scoops.

He said that stories about Harry were big sellers for the newspapers, and around 2,500 articles had covered all facets of his life during the time period of the case B次元官网网址� 1996 to 2011 B次元官网网址� from injuries at school to experimenting with marijuana and cocaine, to ups and downs with girlfriends.

B次元官网网址淣othing was sacrosanct or out of boundsB次元官网网址� for the tabloids, the lawyer said.

Hacking B次元官网网址� the practice of guessing or using default security codes to listen to celebritiesB次元官网网址� cellphone voice messages B次元官网网址� was widespread at British tabloids in the early years of this century. It became an existential crisis for the industry after the revelation in 2011 that the B次元官网网址 of the World had hacked the phone of a slain 13-year-old girl. Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper and several of his executives faced criminal trials.

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.

But the newspaper denies or hasnB次元官网网址檛 admitted any of HarryB次元官网网址檚 claims.

Green said Monday there was B次元官网网址渟imply no evidence capable of supporting the finding that the Duke of Sussex was hacked, let alone on a habitual basis.B次元官网网址�

HarryB次元官网网址檚 fury at the U.K. press B次元官网网址� and sometimes at his own royal relatives for what he sees as their collusion with the media B次元官网网址� runs through his memoir, B次元官网网址淪pare,B次元官网网址� and interviews conducted by Oprah Winfrey and others.

He has blamed paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, and said harassment and intrusion by the U.K. press, including allegedly racist articles, led him and his wife, Meghan, to flee to the U.S. in 2020 and leave royal life behind.

Brian Melley And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

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