Harry back in court for second day of grilling over tabloid claims

Prince Harry returns to the High Court in London on Wednesday for a second day of grilling over his claims that British tabloids targeted him with phone-hacking and other unlawful behaviour.

The prince, who became the first senior British royal to appear in a witness box in more than a century on Tuesday, said the press had destroyed his relationships, and that he believed British media and its government had hit "rock bottom".

He faced almost five hours of cross-examination on Tuesday from Andrew Green, the lawyer for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, which he and 100 others are suing over allegations of widespread unlawful information-gathering between 1991 and 2011.

In a 50-page written witness statement and in questioning, he said the press had blood on its hands, destroyed his adolescence, ruined relationships with friends and girlfriends, and sowed paranoia and mistrust since 1996 when he was a schoolboy.

His anger at suggestions his mother, Princess Diana, was a victim of phone-hacking before her death in 1997 was also clear.

"I've experienced hostility from the press since I was born," he said, calling the behaviour "vile".

Harry, the first senior British royal to give evidence for 130 years, appeared relaxed but spoke firmly, as Green quizzed him in detail over 33 newspaper articles, whose details Harry claims were obtained unlawfully.

On a number of occasions, Green described the prince's allegations as "total speculation".

Harry and the other claimants, however, are arguing during the seven-week trial that senior editors and executives at MGN knew about and approved of the unlawful behaviour.