Prince Harry revealed that phone hacking occurred on a massive scale within the British press, stating he would feel "wronged" if the High Court in London ruled he was not a victim of this issue. Harry, the first senior member of the British royal family to testify in court in over 130 years, was questioned for the second day on Wednesday regarding his claims that British tabloids used illegal methods to target him since childhood.
At times, the prince appeared more resistant during difficult discussions with Andrew Green, the lawyer for the Mirror Group (MGN), publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and Sunday People, which he and 100 other individuals are suing over allegations of illegal information gathering between 1991 and 2011.
The plaintiffs claim during the trial that senior editors and executives at MGN were aware of phone hacking and authorized and directed private investigators to gather information through deceit. Green explained that there is no mobile phone data indicating that Harry was a victim of phone hacking and compared it to a police investigation in 2005 that led to the conviction of a former royal editor at the now-defunct News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Green asked Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, "If the court finds that your phone was not hacked by any journalist from the group, would you feel relieved or disappointed?" Harry responded, "That's speculation... I think phone hacking was on a massive scale across at least three papers at that time, and that is beyond doubt." He added, "To have a decision against me, considering that Mirror Group has accepted the hacking... yes, I would feel somewhat wronged."
In response to Green's suggestion that Harry wanted to be a victim, the prince stated, "No one wants their phone to be hacked." The trial of Mirror Group, which is set to last seven weeks, began last month in the High Court in London.
