London, Thanasis Gavos

For six hours, with two short breaks, he answered prince harry to questions from the MGN publishing group’s defense in the trial over allegations of wiretapping by the group’s newspapers at the High Court in London.

MGN group barrister Andrew Green asked the Duke of Sussex, who is the lead claimant, about each of the 33 articles in the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People alleged to have been intercepted over a period from 1996 until 2010.

The articles cover intimate moments with his mother Diana and brother William, his injuries, outings and trips with his friends, as well as his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

During his oral examination, as well as in a nearly 50-page memorandum that he submitted to the court, Prince Harry said that the indiscretion of tabloid newspapers had “destructive role” in how he grew up, giving him one “general insanity” regarding the trust he could have in their own people.

Asked by Mr Green how he could claim to have been driven paranoid by articles he admitted he did not remember reading, the 38-year-old prince said they had the effect of changing people’s attitudes towards him, such as his mother, but and lose friends.

On several occasions Mr. Green rebutted the plaintiff’s claim of illegal wiretapping and wiretapping by citing articles of similar content from other newspapers, often predating those at issue in the trial. In other cases, the MGN group’s counsel pointed out to Prince Harry different possible sources of information for the journalists who signed the articles in question.

The Duke of Sussex insisted that some of the details contained in the articles, such as flight details, appointment times, specific references to private conversations, could only have been obtained illegally, mainly through wiretapping, but also by deceiving individuals and authorities or by use of private detectives;

In his court affidavit, detailing the 33 suspicious articles as well as the broader background of his relationship with the press, Harry accuses the tabloids of “inciting hatred and harassment” against him and of falling into his trap. stereotype that the headlines attributed to him, that is, as a “playboy” and “dumb” young prince.

He explains, among other things, that he was hearing messages on his voicemail for the first time that weren’t marked as new, meaning someone else had heard them before, and that friends were asking him why he wasn’t answering voicemails, which weren’t there. on his phone.

“I honestly feel that in every relationship I’ve ever had, whether it was with friends, girlfriends, family or the military, there was always a third party involved and that was the tabloid press,” the second son of King Charles mentions in his memoir. He emphasizes that he filed the lawsuit in court “so that people are held accountable for what they’ve done, so they can’t hide behind their institution or organization.”

He also says it makes him feel “crazy” to think that then-Mirror director Piers Morgan, a former friend but now fierce critic of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, was monitoring his mother Princess Diana’s phone.

An unusual political comment for a member of the royal family in the memorandum has also caused a sensation, that is “a country is judged by the state of its press and its government, and I think both in this country have hit rock bottom.”

MGN Group rejects the charges and asks that they be dropped due to the statute of limitations. In the past, however, wiretapping by Mirror journalists has been accepted with compensation paid to the victims.

Several of the articles on which Prince Harry’s lawsuit was based were written by journalists who have previously admitted in other cases to obtaining information by illegal means.

Prince Harry became the first member of the British royal family to testify in court since 1891.

The defense has asked to continue examining Prince Harry on Wednesday.

The trial, which also involves actors and their relatives, is expected to continue for several weeks.