Prince Harry today admitted to calling Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell a ‘two-face s***’ who was ‘attention-seeking and self-interested’.
In a witness statement to a High Court hacking trial, the Duke of Sussex, 38, referred to an article published in the People in 2003 shortly after Burrell had been on trial for allegedly selling Diana’s possessions.
After the case collapsed, Prince William had wanted to meet with Burrell, according to the newspaper piece, as ‘the only way to stop him selling more Diana secrets’.
But Harry feared the former servant would simply use it as an opportunity to make money.
Harry told the High Court today: ‘The article accurately sets out the position that my brother was open to fixing a meeting with Paul to discuss his ongoing exposés about our mother.
Princess Diana in central London with her former butler Paul Burrell in 1994
Harry on Paul Burrell
‘However I had made up my mind about the kind of person I thought Paul was, and was firmly against meeting him.
‘Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscrete Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother’s possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her.’
Harry claimed the People article – which claimed Harry had condemned Burrell – must have been sourced from interception of voicemails, admitting: ‘I would have used the phrase ‘two-face s***’, as is reported, and believe this could have been lifted directly from a voicemail I had left.’
Barrister Mr Sherborne told the court today: ‘Even at this very early formative stage the seeds of discord between these two brothers are starting to be sown.
‘Brothers can sometimes disagree but once it is made public in this way and their inside feelings revealed in the way that they are, trust begins to be eroded and paranoia sets in.’
The fifth in line to the throne has become the first senior royal to give evidence in one of the Monarch’s courts in 132 years, as he sues the Mirror’s publisher for alleged hacking, which it denies.
In an astonishing trashing of the convention that royals avoid meddling in politics, Harry raged about the ‘state of our press and our government – both of which I believe are at rock bottom’.
Harry being cross examined by Andrew Green KC at the High Court today
Harry looked relaxed and even smiled as he entered the High Court’s modern annexe today
And in his most outspoken attack on the British Press yet, Harry demanded: ‘How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness.’
His bombshell remarks were in a written witness statement, which he had prepared in advance and yesterday swore on oath was true.
An usher handed him a bible and asked him to hold it in a raised hand.
She asked him to repeat after her: ‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’
Harry stared straight ahead and repeated the phrase word-perfect.
He was then asked by his barrister David Sherborne to confirm he would like to be referred to as Prince Harry. He asked him to view his 55-page witness statement, check his signature and confirm its truthfulness.
The duke’s statement was then released to the public. It is a wide-ranging attack on the Mirror group’s newspapers, the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People, which he claims intruded into his childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
He claims he and his mother Princess Diana were both hacked, along with his family, friends and royal aides.
His 25,538-word statement contains five mentions of his wife, Meghan, and 118 mentions of his first serious girlfriend Chelsy Davey.
The Duke of Sussex jetted into the UK from California on Monday and looked relaxed and even smiled as he entered the High Court’s modern annexe – the Rolls Building – saying ‘good morning’ to the waiting press.
Yesterday he was criticised by one of Britain’s top judges and accused of wasting court time after missing the first day of his historic case – to celebrate his daughter Lilibet’s birthday in Montecito before flying to Britain.
Harry and three others are suing the Mirror group claiming the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspaper hacked their phones or conducted other illegal activity, which is denied.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk