Paul Burrell accuses Prince Harry of not telling truth about him in court

Prince Harry has been accused of not telling the truth about unfounded allegations Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell sold her possessions.

The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles were linked to unlawful methods including phone hacking.

In his evidence on Tuesday, Harry agreed he would have used the phrase "two-face s**t" to describe Mr Burrell, in a reference to words appearing in a 2003 article in The People newspaper.

Harry claims his remarks about Mr Burrell were obtained illegally by MGN from a voicemail he left for his brother, now the Prince of Wales, while he was in Australia in 2003. MGN denies the allegations.

At the time, Mr Burrell had written a tell-all book and been cleared in 2002 of claims he stole possessions from Diana following her death.

According to the article in The People Newspaper, Prince William had hoped to meet with Mr Burrell in a bid to “stop him selling more Diana secrets”.

Watch: Prince Harry slams Piers Morgan as he takes aim at tabloids

In his witness statement, Harry said: “Both my brother and I had very strong feelings about how indiscreet Paul had proven to be with the way he had sold our mother’s possessions and how he had given numerous interviews about her.

“We firmly believed that she would have expected some privacy in death, especially from someone she had trusted, and we were so upset at the way he was behaving – I didn’t want to hear his reasons for it.”

Burrell said Harry should “stop” his claims, telling GB News after the duke had finished giving evidence that Harry had defamed him by saying that he sold his mother's possessions and called on him to apologise.

He said: “His legal statement which he drew up in the last few months is evidence sworn under oath, he has categorically said in that statement that I have been selling Diana’s possessions.

“That is not true and that is defamatory. I want him to apologise because it’s not true.”

Burrell said his court case was a “PR exercise” and a “fight against the media”, adding:

“Harry you know full well that court case collapsed, and the Queen had evidence which saved me.

“You can’t go into a courtroom and say Paul Burrell is selling my mother’s possessions, because it isn’t true.”

Harry cross-examination resumed on Wednesday, with the duke questioned about an article published in the Sunday People in May 2005 about him having a knee injury and fellow cadets at Sandhurst complaining he was given “preferential treatment” by being let off “gruelling marches”.

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, asked about a press release issued by Clarence House about the injury, which included a quote from Harry.

The barrister asked if the duke stood by the evidence in his witness statement, in which he said he was not “going around discussing any medical issues or injuries”.

Harry insisted it was “entirely accurate” and did not accept that there was a degree of public interest in the story, adding that a “life-threatening injury” would constitute public interest.

Harry is set to finish his oral evidence on Wednesday afternoon.

He alleges that about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by MGN titles contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 of these have been selected to be considered at the trial.

MGN is contesting his claim and has either denied or not admitted that articles about Harry being examined at the trial involved phone hacking or unlawful activity.