Prince Harry Gets Choked up While Testifying in Court
Prince Harry had an emotional day in court as the royal took to the witness stand for his second day of testimony in High Court in London, England, in his case against Mirror Group Newspapers. The Duke of Sussex is one of a number of claimants suing The Mirror's publishers, saying that the tabloid used unlawful methods – including phone hacking – to obtain stories.
Cameras were not allowed into the courtroom for Harry's testimony, but Entertainment Tonight's royal correspondent noted that at one point during the questioning from his lawyer, David Sherborne, the royal got visibly choked up. Asked how it felt to be asked to go through all of the personal details surrounding his case, Harry got emotional while answering, "It's a lot."
In Harry's 49-page statement released to the media as he took the stand, the Duke said that news stories had "played a destructive role" in his childhood and that tabloids' "vile" behavior caused him to go into a "downward spiral." The prince also claimed that the actions of some editors and journalists had also indirectly resulted in death – referencing the 1997 paparazzi car chase that led to the fatal crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana.
Harry also testified that a "large part" of his and wife Meghan Markle's decision to move to the U.S. in 2020 was because of the "constant intrusion of the press," which had "a devastating impact" on the "mental health and well-being" of him and the Duchess of Sussex. The royal continued that he regularly suspected the tabloids were using unlawful methods of obtaining their stories about him.
"The tabloids would routinely publish articles about me that were often wrong but interspersed with snippets of truth, which I now think were most likely gleaned from voicemail interception and/or unlawful information gathering," he added in the written statement, which "created an alternative and distorted version of me and my life to the general public." The Duke of Sussex told the court he hoped to be the person to put a stop to the "madness" of tabloid practices in the U.K., asking, "How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?"