Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent, reporting from court

The court is now looking at a newspaper article from September 2007, reporting details of Prince Harry and his then girlfriend Chelsy Davy's apparently troubled relationship.

"Prince Harry's romance with Chelsy Davy is in crisis after a string of bitter bust-ups," The People's article exclaimed.

"Stunning Chelsy, 21, is said to be 'furious and deeply upset' with Harry after THREE monumental rows."

Image source, Crown

In his written witness statement, the prince says: "I really cannot understand how the defendant’s journalists obtained such specific details for this article, however given what I know about [the reporter] Dean Rousewell’s activities, I find it very suspicious.

"I certainly wasn’t discussing our relationship in these kind of details with anyone inside the Palace.

"Given the hours I was working at the time, it’s likely Chelsy and I did exchange voicemails even more often than normal, so I now believe that this information must have come from the hacking of our voicemails."

Tom Symonds
Home affairs correspondent, reporting from court

Prince Harry is being asked about the 2006 arrests of a journalist from the now-closed News of the World newspaper as well as a private investigator for phone hacking.

The Mirror Group's lawyer asks, given that both had been convicted, would any journalist take a risk hacking Prince Harry's phone or that of his brother Prince William?

"I believe the risk is worth the reward for them", Prince Harry says, adding: "I believe phone hacking was on an industrial scale across three of the papers."

The lawyer goes on: "Can I ask this - if the court was to found you were never hacked by an MGM [Mirror Group Newspapers] journalist would you be relieved or disappointed?"

"I would feel an injustice," Prince Harry replies.

So, the lawyer says, "you want to have been phone hacked?"

Prince Harry replies: "No-one wants to have been phone hacked."

James Gregory
Reporting from court

The publisher's lawyer is now talking about an article which predates the "Chel Shocked" story mentioned in our previous post.

This other story, written in the Daily Mail, is about the trip to strip club Spearmint Rhino titled "Prince of Lapland".

He says the source in the story said one of the girls they asked to dance naked was a "tall statuesque blonde who bears more than a passing resemblance to Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy".

"I can’t imagine she would have been pleased to hear that," Mirror Group lawyer Andrew Green says.

He asks Prince Harry: "In so far as the article in The People of which you complain raises the fact that Ms Davy was angry, it was not adding anything in substance that had not been implied in other articles?"

In response, the prince says there are no quotes from the Lithuanian lap dancer quoted in the Daily Mail, adding: "That’s a classic example where a story originates from a different paper and then the Mirror or another paper - which is one step behind - is encouraged to go out and get extra information."

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent, reporting from court

The court is now discussing another article from April 2006, headlined in The People as "Chel shocked".

It said Chelsy Davy "blew her top" about Prince Harry's "boozy" evening at a "sleazy strip joint".

The article revealed: "A highly placed source said: 'She went absolutely berserk at him... She slammed the phone down because she was too angry to even speak.'"

Image source, Crown

"The detail about the timing and length of the calls is so specific," says the prince in his statement.

He says there are two payments to private investigators, totalling £400, in Mirror Group Newspaper's records which he alleges are linked to the story.

"With hindsight, it seems likely to me that the defendant’s journalists had access to one of our phone records and put two and two together to make a story."

Short, terse and guarded responses from Harrypublished at 11:02 BST 7 June 2023

11:02 BST 7 June 2023

Sean Coughlan
Royal correspondent, reporting from court

Prince Harry is picking up where he left off yesterday, offering short, terse and quite guarded replies, in a relatively quiet voice, keeping the questions at arm’s length.

He’s sitting in the witness box behind a couple of computer screens, looking down at the documents about the disputed newspaper articles.

And Mirror lawyer Andrew Green seems to be trying to tease him out to say more – asking him when it would be in the public interest to cover a story about his health.

“Life-threatening injury?” Harry replies.

James Gregory
Reporting from court

Prince Harry is still going through the 2005 article in The People about his time at Sandhurst, which says he was let off daily five-mile marches because of a knee injury.

He says it was "somewhat distressing going through this [the article] with the legal team".

Asked whether he recalled seeing the article at the time, Prince Harry says: "Most of the articles I don’t remember seeing.

"Most of them were equally distressing then and more distressing today going through this process."

The prince says the article contains inaccuracies, adding: "To my best knowledge there were no five mile runs."

James Gregory
Reporting from court

Sticking with the same story about Prince Harry's knee injury, the Mirror Group's lawyer points the prince to a statement by Clarence House about his knee injury and how it had been affecting his entry to Sandhurst - six months before the article was published.

The lawyer says the knee injury was already public knowledge, with the prince discussing it publicly.

"Other cadets would inevitably take note of how the powers that be were being treated at Sandhurst," the lawyer says.

"So if you were treated differently that would invite comment?" he asks.

"Yes," Prince Harry responds.

"If people thought you were getting preferential treatment, they might disclose it to the media," the publisher's lawyer adds.

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent, reporting from court

The lawyer for the Mirror publisher, Andrew Green, is asking Prince Harry about an article in The People from May 2005 headlined "Harry Carry!"

The article revealed that the then trainee Army officer had been "let off daily five-mile marches" because of a knee injury.

The prince says in his witness statement he wasn't "freely discussing any medical issues or injuries".

Image source, Crown

The second part of the article details that he was apparently spending '15 minutes each day' emailing then girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

"I’d only been at Sandhurst a couple of weeks by this point," says the prince.

"While I can’t remember the specifics of how often I was speaking to Chelsy over email at this time, I wasn’t sharing this information with my colleagues - who I’d only just met - least of all because that kind of thing would have made me seem soft, but also because me and Chelsy were so protective of our relationship."

Prince Harry says the evidence in the case shows payments from Mirror Group Newspapers to a private investigator from the same period - and a suspicious call to a mobile phone used by the then Prince Charles's press secretary Paddy Harverson.

Tom Symonds
Home affairs correspondent, reporting from court

Prince Harry has already been asked a key question in this case - what does he think makes a story "in the public interest", and therefore legitimate?

Yesterday he said there was "a difference between the public interest and what is in the interests of the public."

"What", he's asked by the newspaper publisher's lawyer Andrew Green, "would be a public interest story about you?"

Prince Harry says he doesn't want to speculate but, pushed, offers that "a life threatening injury" suffered by him might be a subject in the public interest.

No smoking gun so far... but that's by no means fatal for Harrypublished at 10:37 BST 7 June 2023

10:37 BST 7 June 2023

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent, reporting from court

Prince Harry came to court yesterday morning with a simple mission: the onus was on him to prove his case.

But where was the smoking gun?

Where was the repentant tabloid reporter admitting he targeted him?

The Mirror Group repeatedly argued that stories had come from a variety of legitimate sources, and sought to expose the prince's theories as wild.

But, the publisher also knows the prince's case benefits from the fact that it has admitted large-scale unlawful information gathering in the past.

So Prince Harry had been repeatedly pointing out compelling similarities to the earlier cases which his lawyers want the judge to note: the same mystery missed calls or voice messages, the same journalists making the same payments to private investigators.

Today we get into the final batch of stories, many of which will continue to touch on the intrusion he says so damaged his life and those around him.

James Gregory
Reporting from court

Prince Harry is now being cross-examined by Mirror Group lawyer Andrew Green, who is questioning him about an article titled "Harry Carry" about a longstanding knee injury.

Prince Harry is now in the witness box and is about to give evidence in his hacking case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror for a second day.

Harry is being cross-examined by the publisher's lawyer, who has repeatedly said many of the stories were gathered via legitimate sources.

Our reporters are at the High Court and we'll be bringing you the latest lines. Stick with us.

Sean Coughlan
Royal correspondent, reporting from court

The scene is set for day two of Prince Harry giving evidence. The courtroom is like a stage waiting for the actors to turn up, with the journalists and public waiting in anticipation.

Prince Harry seemed to grow in confidence yesterday, despite some tough questioning, and in a few minutes we’re going to see him back in the witness box.

The Mirror’s lawyer Andrew Green has time this morning to try to demolish the claims of phone hacking.

He’s been described as a “beast in court” - so how will he turn up the heat on Harry?

Here's the 16-second clip of Prince Harry arriving in court for his second day of cross-examination:

Prince Harry has arrived at London’s High Court for a second day in the witness box.

He'll continue being questioned by the Mirror Group Newspaper lawyer today, as part of his cross-examination in his case against the publisher.

He is being challenged by lawyer Andrew Green on his 49-page witness statement, external detailing the times when he says journalists used unlawful methods to gather information to generate stories about him, including phone hacking.

The publisher denies any unlawful activity in this case.

James Gregory
Reporting from court

I'm in the adjacent court to where Prince Harry will be giving evidence.

Royal correspondent Sean Coughlan and I will be listening to the prince via a live video link, and the court clerks are just testing the sound to make sure we'll be able to hear him.

The room has been set up specifically due to the level of interest in this case, and there are around 20 journalists with me, as well as a handful of members of the public.

What Harry must show to winpublished at 09:59 BST 7 June 2023

09:59 BST 7 June 2023

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent, reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

The key thing to remember ahead of Prince Harry's second day of cross-examination is he isn't here to get a free pass to mouth off about the tabloid press.

He must show his best evidence that he was a victim of phone hacking and "unlawful information gathering".

His appearance is focusing on 33 sample articles from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People, covering events in the Duke's life from 1996 until 2009.

This is the important bit: he has to explain for each and every one of those articles why he believes the newspapers used unlawful techniques to help write them.

He needs to bring facts - or overwhelmingly compelling circumstantial evidence - to court to back his claims.

The task for the Mirror Group's lawyer, is to demolish the prince's case brick by brick.

Image source, Reuters

Prince Harry has just stepped out of his black Land Rover and is walking into the High Court in central London.

He said good morning but did not answer reporters' questions before walking into the building.

He's about to give his second day of evidence in his case against the publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.

The hearing is due to start shortly - stick with us.

Helena Wilkinson
Reporting from outside the High Court

I’m just looking up to the court building and can see some people curiously peering out of windows.

It’s not every day you get a senior member of the Royal Family turn up at your place of work.

Helena Wilkinson
Reporting from outside the High Court

We are outside the court building where we are expecting Prince Harry to arrive shortly.

Dozens of camera crews and photographs are squeezed together, some perched on ladders, on either side of the entrance to the Rolls Building, ready to get the best shot of Prince Harry making his way into court.

If yesterday is anything to go by, they will only have a matter of seconds to get their picture as Prince Harry got out of the car and into court swiftly.