<\/p>\n
Prince Harry broke down in court as he slammed the press for making his wife\u2019s life an \u201cabsolute misery\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
After several hours of giving evidence at the High Court on Wednesday, Harry became emotional while talking about Meghan.<\/p>\n
The prince told the court his life had been \u201copen season\u201d to be commercialised since he was a teenager and said that having to sit in court and \u201chave them claim I don\u2019t have any right to privacy is disgusting\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey continue to come after me, they have made my wife\u2019s life an absolute misery, my Lord,\u201d he said, his voice breaking.<\/p>\n
He left the courtroom shortly after.<\/p>\n
It was a dramatic end to a day of exhaustive cross-examination of the prince in which he strongly refuted claims that he was friends with journalists and denied that his friends were the cause of leaks about his private life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not friends with these journalists, I never have been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During the hearing he strongly denied that he personally invited Mail on Sunday journalist Katie Nicholl to a party in 2003 at Kensington Palace.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss Nicholl made a career out of turning up at these events\u201d and making it seem like she had these sources, the duke alleges.<\/p>\n
Prince Harry said he wouldn\u2019t have been able to complain about stories coming out about him due to the \u201cinstitution\u201d of the Royal Family.<\/p>\n
He said that every time a story came out that cited \u201csources\u201d his circle of trust decreased \u201calmost immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that he wouldn\u2019t speak about things included in the articles openly again.<\/p>\n
Prince Harry\u2019s case rests on 14 articles published between 2001 and 2013.<\/p>\n
The articles, mainly written by two journalists Katie Nicholl and Rebecca English, contained information that was gathered unlawfully, the prince claims.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Wednesday he said he had spoken to Ms English a number of times as she would often accompany his royal tours.<\/p>\n
He said it was difficult working with Ms English, and others, knowing \u201cthe kind of stories they had written about me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking about another journalist, Barbara Jones, Harry alleged she would turn up \u201cplaces where no-one could possibly know where I was\u201d.<\/p>\n
He claimed that Ms Jones, a former foreign correspondent for the Mail on Sunday, and her colleague Caroline Graham would turn up \u201ceverywhere. It felt like full blown stalking and constant surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a witness statement to the court Prince Harry said he has always had an \u201cuneasy relationship\u201d with the press following the death of his mother when he was 12 years old.<\/p>\n
He said he was \u201cconditioned to accept it\u201d and didn\u2019t question it until he met his wife Meghan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn late 2016, when my relationship with Meghan, my now wife, became public, I started to become increasingly troubled by the approach of not taking action against the press in the wake of vicious persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles concerning Meghan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prince Harry is one of seven claimants, (including Liz Hurley, Elton John and Sadie Frost), that accuse Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) of \u201cgrave breaches of privacy\u201d. <\/p>\n
Publications belonging to ANL have been accused of systematically engaging in \u201cunlawful information gathering\u201d, including tapping phones and intercepting voicemails, between 1993 and 2011.<\/p>\n
Associated Newspapers has denied any wrongdoing, describing the claims as \u201cpreposterous\u201d and an \u201caffront to the hardworking journalists whose reputations and integrity \u2026 are wrongly traduced\u201d.<\/p>\n
ANL\u2019s lawyers have said the claimants – including Liz Hurley and Sir Elton John – were \u201cclutching at straws\u201d.<\/p>\n
The trial continues. <\/p>\n