The duke was asked by Andrew Green about whether an article published by the Daily Mirror about how the young prince had responded to his parents’ divorce contained information which may have been “indicative of phone hacking.”
The article in question was published on September 16, 1996, with the headline “Diana so sad on Harry’s big day,” according to the prince’s written evidence.
It contained details of his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, coming to visit the prince at Ludgrove school on his 12th birthday, and included details about how long she spent at the school with him.
Harry told the court that some of the details in the piece “seemed incredibly suspicious.”
However, Green pressed the prince on whether a member of the press – knowing the date of the Prince’s birthday – could have visited the school on this date and learned details of the Princess of Wales’ visit by witnessing her entering and exiting.
You’re not suggesting, are you, that this sentence (in the article) is indicative of phone hacking?” Green asked Prince Harry.
Harry did not answer in any certainty.
The article in question also claimed that Harry was responding to his parents’ divorce “badly.”
“I think it’s quite ironic for the Defendant’s journalists to be remarking on how difficult I was finding this period, when articles like this, and the conduct of the press, including the Defendant’s journalists, contributed to that feeling,” Harry said in his written evidence.
