Prince Harry lawsuit latest news: Duke of Sussex stirs political storm by slamming ‘rock bottom’ federal government

Prince Harry has actually declared that the UK federal government is at “rock bottom” in an amazing intervention into politics throughout his High Court case versus a paper.

The Duke of Sussex utilized a witness declaration in the event versus Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over declared phone hacking to blast the requirement of federal government.

Harry blamed the tabloids for “inciting hatred and harassment” in his personal life – declaring he was cast as a “playboy prince” and a “thicko” when he was younger.

Accusing the federal government of being too “scared” of journalism, he said: “Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government – both of which I believe are at rock bottom.”

In his witness declaration, the Duke of Sussex explained a 2007 story in The People about his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy’s worries for his safety over his suggested military implementation to Iraq as “so violating”.

He said he thought reporters had actually listened to his and Miss Davy’s personal messages, stating: “This article once more shows it’s not my career and professional life that the defendant’s journalists were interested in, but very private, raw emotions between me and my partner.

“It’s so violating.”

As the judge went back to court after a time-out, the duke’s lawyer David Sherborne said he’d been asked on behalf of a variety of individuals in court and viewing procedures from another location if Harry might “raise his voice”.

Harry then chuckled as Andrew Green KC, for MGN, joked: “I hope not raise it in anger.”

The Duke of Sussex assured his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy in 2006 that he was not offered a lap dance at the Spearmint Rhino club, he said in his witness declaration.

Referring to a story in The People in April 2006 which said Miss Davy had actually gone “berserk” and knocked the phone down on Harry over the night out, the duke said: “I don’t think Chelsy did go mad about me going there.

“We did speak about it over the phone, but I promised her that I hadn’t had a lap dance and stayed with the three other cadets that had girlfriends.”

The duke said he thought reporters had access to among their phone records and “put two and two together to make a story”.

The Duke of Sussex has actually said he now sees “how much of my life was wasted on this paranoia” which he credits to the actions of MGN.

Harry said in his witness declaration that posts which declared to have remarks from individuals near him “contributed to the general feeling of paranoia that I was so used to living with, a feeling of not being able to trust anybody”.

He continued: “It’s bad enough at any age, but looking back, 18 years old is so young to feel constantly suspicious of everyone around you.”

The duke included that at various points he “doubted the loyalty” of individuals around him including his previous baby-sitter Tiggy Legge-Bourke and previous royal equerry Mark Dyer.

He continued: “It’s only now, realising what the defendant’s journalists were doing and how they were getting their information, that I can see how much of my life was wasted on this paranoia.

“I’ve always heard people refer to my mother as paranoid, but she wasn’t.

“She was fearful of what was actually happening to her and now I know that I was the same.”

Mr Green questioned the duke about a Daily Mirror short article publisher in September 1996 entitled “Diana so sad on Harry’s big day”.

The court heard that Harry has actually grumbled about the short article consisting of information of his sensations relating to the divorce of his moms and dads and the disease of a family friend.

The MGN lawyer said the duke was initially released with a cellphone when he went to Eton in 1998, putting it to Harry that the 1996 short article might not have actually included phone hacking.

Harry responded: “That’s incorrect. My security at school had a separate room with a land line.”

He said “most Sunday nights”, after being dropped off by his mom “the first thing we would do is to use the phone to ring her… in floods of tears”.

Harry likewise said it might have been his mom who was hacked, however Mr Green responded “that’s just speculation you’ve come up with now”.

Mr Green said the short article reported that Harry at the time was “believed to be taking the royal divorce badly”, with the duke responding: “Like most children I think, yes”.

The lawyer said such info was not stating anything that was not “pretty obvious”.

The duke said there was “no legitimacy” in putting such info in the paper, including that “the methods in which it was obtained seem incredibly suspicious”.

The Duke of Sussex dealt with concerns from Mr Green about claims in his witness declaration that MGN’s supposed invasion into his life added to “a huge amount of paranoia”.

Mr Green asked Harry how he had such sensations if he was not familiar with posts released in relation to him at the time.

The Duke said he would be “speculating” if he said which posts he had actually checked out and which he had not.

Harry included: “In my experience, the vast majority of the quotes were attributed to a pal, a friend, a source, an onlooker, which actually creates more suspicion”.

The duke said he began to re-examine posts when he “realised information had been unlawfully obtained”.

In his witness declaration, the Duke of Sussex explained an occurrence with a paparazzi professional photographer in October 2004.

Harry, then 20, was implicated at the time of blasting a professional photographer in a scuffle outside a bar and pictures of the event appeared in journalism.

Harry said: “This was a particularly challenging period of my youth. I had just turned 20, and like most 20 year-olds, I wanted to go out and socialise. However, everywhere I went, the paparazzi seemed to turn up…”

He included: “As I reached the car, I could hear taunting. I was being egged on for a reaction, knowing I’d been out and had a few drinks.

“A camera hit me across my nose as I was opening the door, I turned, grabbed the nearest camera to me and shoved it backwards.”

Harry said he was reclaimed to Clarence House later on and after that “on to see a doctor”.

The duke said “everyone” in the family include his dad, now the King, was understanding.

“Everyone in the family, including my father, was sympathetic to the position I was in, there was no respite, never an ‘off’ moment when I was allowed to go out with my friends without the intrusion and harassment.”

In his written witness declaration, Harry recommendations a story from November 2007 which appeared in the Irish edition of the Sunday Mirror and reported information of the duke’s relationship with his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

Harry composed: “It reported that Chelsy and I had a ‘secret meeting’ where I had ‘begged her for a second chance’.”

He went on to state: “These kinds of articles made me feel as though my relationship with Chelsy was always set to be doomed.

“We couldn’t even meet in private or have arguments over the telephone without the defendant somehow learning these details and publishing them for the whole country to see.

“Again, it was just that feeling of being under surveillance all the time.

“I believe Chelsy found this even more difficult to deal with when she lived in England.”

The Duke in his witness declaration likewise explained a story in the Mirror in 2005, in which it was declared his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was “furious and had given me a ‘tongue-lashing down the phone’ following allegations that I had been flirting with a brunette” at a celebration.

Harry said: “I had been immature, I hadn’t really thought about my actions and I had made a stupid decision – and my mistakes were being played out publicly.”

He said Chelsy was very secured about their relationship and a great deal of their long-distance relationship was carried out over the telephone.

“Every time these kinds of stories were published, there was a strain put on our relationship, we started to distrust everyone around us,” he said.

“In hindsight, knowing the extent to which MGN journalists were targeting us and intercepting our communications, we probably lost friends needlessly and put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be secretive and deal with problems without support, out of the sense of paranoia that articles like this created.”

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, has actually asked the duke: “Is it realistic, when you have been the subject of so much press intrusion by so many press, both domestic and international, to attribute specific distress to a particular article from 20 years ago, which you may not have seen at the time?”

Harry responded: “As I said earlier, it isn’t a specific article, it is all of the articles.”

He included: “Every single article has caused me distress,” to which Mr Green then asked if each specific short article had actually triggered him distress.

Harry responded: “Yes, without question.”

Mr Green then asked Harry about part of his case which specifies that he was triggered specific distress “because he is a very private person” and remained in the general public eye at a young age.

Harry said: “I believe that as a child, every single one of these articles played an important role in my growing up.”

However, he included that he might not validate whether he kept in mind checking out particular posts at the time they were released, including that there were “millions” of posts “that have been written about me since age 12”.

Mr Green asked Harry about part of his case that declares posts “caused him to be paranoid and to distrust those around him”, and whether he was describing particular MGN posts or “the general effect of all of the articles” about him.

Harry said: “Yes, because … it is 20 years ago and I simply can’t other than speculate whether I saw these articles at the time.

“I certainly saw a lot of articles at the time and was made aware … unfortunately, by the behaviour and reaction of my inner circle.”

The duke included that when info he had actually just informed to a couple of members of his inner circle was revealed, “your circle of friends starts to shrink”.