Prince Harry has left the Royal Courts of Justice and decided not to attend the second half of today’s proceedings.
The Duke of Sussex and Liz Hurley did not return to court following the midday break on the second day of their legal battle against Associated Newspapers Limited.
Prince Harry was spotted departing the Royal Courts of Justice once proceedings paused for lunch, after ANL's barrister Antony White KC had begun presenting his opening arguments.
Of the seven prominent claimants pursuing action against the publisher, only Harry and Ms Hurley had attended in person for both Monday's opening and Tuesday morning's session.
Prince Harry has left the Royal Courts of Justice and decided not to attend the second half of today’s proceedings.
|GETTY
The pair's absence from the afternoon proceedings came as the High Court continued to hear submissions in the case.
Earlier in the day, the court heard claims from the Duke's barrister David Sherborne regarding the psychological toll of the legal proceedings.
Mr Sherborne told the court: "In his witness statement for the trial, the Duke of Sussex speaks of the impact which this has had on him the distress, the paranoia and the other feelings that it generated."
The barrister questioned whether such feelings were surprising given the circumstances, adding: "He feels he has endured a sustained campaign of attacks against him for having had the temerity to stand up to Associated in the way that he has so publicly done."
The Duke of Sussex is one of seven prominent figures bringing the case, alongside Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, actress Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes.
The group claims ANL either directly carried out or commissioned illegal practices, including installing listening devices in vehicles, obtaining private records through deception, and intercepting telephone conversations.
ANL has rejected all allegations against it.
All seven claimants are expected to give evidence during the proceedings, with Prince Harry scheduled to take the witness stand on Thursday.
Associated Newspapers “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at Prince Harry or his associates.
Antony White KC said in written submissions that the articles in the case “were sourced entirely legitimately from information variously provided by contacts of the journalists responsible, including individuals in the Duke of Sussex’s social circle, press officers and publicists, freelance journalists, photographers and prior reports”.
He added: “At all material times, the Duke of Sussex’s social circle was and was known to be a good source of leaks or disclosure of information to the media about what he got up to in his private life.”
Mr White later said that Harry also discussed his private life in the media, and information about his life was also provided by Palace spokespeople.
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