An emotional Prince Harry tells court how publisher made Meghan's life 'a misery'

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry struck a defensive tone at the start of his testimony on Wednesday against the publisher of the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper and left the witness box hours later on the brink of tears.

After disputing that reporters used legitimate sources to publish revealing details of his life, he provided an emotional glimpse into the toll that a life in the spotlight and his battle against the British media had taken on him and his family.

“They continue to come after me, they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery,” he said as he choked back tears in London's High Court.

Harry and six other prominent figures, including the singer Sir Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, allege that Associated Newspapers Ltd. invaded their privacy by engaging in a “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” for two decades, attorney David Sherborne said.

The publisher has denied the allegations, called them preposterous and said the roughly 50 articles in question were reported with sources that included close associates willing to inform on their famous friends. It is expected to name sources during the nine-week trial.

Harry said in his 23-page witness statement that he was distressed and disturbed by intrusions by the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday into his early life and it made him “paranoid beyond belief.”

It was Harry’s second time testifying after he bucked House of Windsor tradition and became the first senior royal to testify in a court in well over a century when he took the stand in his similar lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror in 2023.

Harry, dressed in a dark suit, held a small Bible in his right hand in London’s High Court and swore to “almighty God that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

Under the English court practice, Harry presented written testimony of his claims and after asserting it was true under oath, he was immediately put under cross-examination.

Defense lawyer Antony White, in a calm and gentle tone, began to put questions to Harry to determine if the sourcing of the articles, in fact, had come from royal correspondents legitimately working their sources at official events or from friends or associates of the prince.

Harry denied suggestions he was friendly with journalists who covered the royal family or that his friends gave details about him to the tabloids.

“My social circles were not leaky,” he declared.

His curt replies and efforts to explain what it’s like living under what he called “24-hour surveillance” eventually brought the intervention of the judge, who told him not to argue with the defense lawyer

“You don’t have to bear the burden of arguing the case today,” Justice Matthew Nicklin told the frustrated prince.

As Harry became increasingly defensive, White said: “I am intent on you not having a bad experience with me, but it is my job to ask you these questions.”

Harry suggested that details in articles had come from eavesdropping on his phone calls or having private investigators snoop on him. He said journalist Katie Nicholl had used the term “unidentified source” deceptively to hide unlawful measures of investigation.

“If you complain, they double down on you in my experience,” he said as he explained why he had not objected to the articles at the time.

Harry said he had had an “uneasy” relationship with the media for many years while following the royal family's protocol of “never complain, never explain.”

The litigation is part of Harry’s self-proclaimed mission to reform the media that he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris.

He also said persistent press attacks on his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, led them to leave royal life and move to the United States in 2020.

He said “vicious persistent attacks," harassment and event racists articles about Meghan, who is biracial, had inspired him to break from family tradition to finally sue the press.

After cross-examination, Harry's lawyer asked him how he felt about the way Associated Newspapers was defending the case.

Despite having brought the lawsuit and pushed for a trial for accountability, Harry said it was “fundamentally wrong to put all of us through this again” when all he wanted was an apology.

“I have never believed that my life is open season to be commercialized by these people,” he said.

After mentioning his wife, who is not a party in the case, Harry choked up and appeared to be holding back tears as he stepped out of the witness box and walked slowly out of the courtroom.

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at London's High Court to lead a group, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, accusing the Daily Mail's publisher of privacy invasion through unlawful tactics in a trial that is part of a wider phone hacking scandal in London, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at London's High Court to lead a group, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, accusing the Daily Mail's publisher of privacy invasion through unlawful tactics in a trial that is part of a wider phone hacking scandal in London, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at London's High Court to lead a group, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, accusing the Daily Mail's publisher of privacy invasion through unlawful tactics in a trial that is part of a wider phone hacking scandal in London, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at London's High Court to lead a group, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, accusing the Daily Mail's publisher of privacy invasion through unlawful tactics in a trial that is part of a wider phone hacking scandal in London, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at London's High Court to lead a group, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, accusing the Daily Mail's publisher of privacy invasion through unlawful tactics in a trial that is part of a wider phone hacking scandal in London, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at London's High Court, leading a group, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, accusing the Daily Mail's publisher of privacy invasion through unlawful tactics in a trial that is part of a wider phone hacking scandal in London, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Landslides hit a campground and a house in New Zealand and emergency crews were trying to rescue people buried in rubble, officials said Thursday.

Emergency services were called to the slide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island after 9:30 a.m. The rubble hit Beachside Holiday Park in a town named after the extinct volcano.

Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said the number of people missing was in the “single figures" but didn't say further how many were affected.

Another landslide hit a house overnight in the nearby Bay of Plenty community. Two people escaped the house but two others were missing, Anderson said. A rescue operation was underway there Thursday.

Further north near Warkworth, a man remained missing after floodwaters swept him from a road Wednesday morning as heavy rain lashed large swathes of the North Island, a police statement said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged residents in affected areas to heed local authorities' safety advice during the extreme conditions.

“Extreme weather continues to cause dangerous conditions across the North Island. Right now, the government is doing everything we can to support those impacted,” Luxon posted on social media.

At Mount Maunganui, no survivor had been recovered three hours after the slide, Fire and Emergency NZ commander William Pike said.

“Members of the public ... tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,” Pike told reporters. “Our initial fire crew arrived and … were able to hear the same. Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site due to possible movement and slip."

No sign of life had been detected since, Pike said.

Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said emergency crews were continuing a rescue operation at Mount Maunganui.

Mayor Mahe Drysdale said those unaccounted earlier had included people who had left the campground without notifying authorities. The campground was closed after the disaster.

Australian tourist Sonny Worrall said he was lazing in hot pools within the campground when he heard then saw the landslide.

“I looked behind me and there’s a huge landslide coming down. And I’m still shaking from it now,” Worrall told New Zealand 1News news service. “I turned around and I had to jump out from my seat as fast as I could and just run.”

He looked back to see the rubble carrying a travel trailer behind him.

“It was like the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Worrall said.

In this image from a video, a police officer with dog searches people near the site of a landlide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (TVNZ via AP)

In this image from a video, rescuers and fire crews work near the site of a landlide at the base of Mount Maunganui on New Zealand’s North Island Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (TVNZ via AP)