The youngest son of King Charles III attended a hearing at London's High Court on Tuesday for the second day in a row as part of a multi-celebrity lawsuit against Associated Newspaper (ANL), accused of illegally gathering information.
In his witness statement signed on February 24 and seen by AFP, Harry evokes his "difficult relationship with the press" since the death of his mother Diana but explains that "for a member of the institution, the policy was +never complain, never explain+".
He says the royal family has dissuaded him from suing the press because "it could open a Pandora's box."
"There is no doubt that the (royal) institution has long withheld information about phone hacking from me, and this only became clear in recent years, when I filed my own complaint."
Harry, who only exceptionally travels to the United Kingdom, made a surprise visit to London to attend the hearing during which ANL tries to thwart the proceedings initiated by the king's son, but also the singer Elton John or the actress Liz Hurley.
The six plaintiffs accuse ANL of employing detectives to wiretap them.
The group refuted "totally and unambiguously these grotesque smears" which it said sought to "drag the Mail's headlines into the scandal of wiretapping concerning 30-year-old articles".
The British tabloid press was shaken a decade ago by several scandals of illegal eavesdropping practiced in the early 2000s.
Prince Harry (c) leaves the High Court in London after a deposition as part of the legal proceedings he filed against the publisher of the Daily Mail, March 28, 2023 © Daniel LEAL / AFP
Harry's visit to the UK comes just over a month before the king's coronation on May 6. Exiled in the United States after leaving the monarchy with a bang in 2020, Harry and his wife Meghan were invited to the ceremony but have not yet publicly announced whether they will honor the invitation.
After a documentary aired on Netflix in December, Harry published in early January his controversial memoir entitled "The Deputy", in which he details the breakdown of his relationship with his father and brother William.
© 2023 AFP