Prince Harry was the target of illegal information-gathering even as a young schoolboy, his lawyer told a London court Monday in his case against a tabloid newspaper publisher.
The 38-year-old prince will become the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for more than a century on Tuesday when he testifies against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
King Charles III's younger son and other high-profile figures allege that MGN engaged in unlawful activities, including phone hacking, at its titles and are seeking damages.
Banks of photographers and camera crews gathered outside London's High Court in anticipation of Harry's arrival for opening speeches in the case.
But his lawyer, David Sherborne, said Harry will not take the stand until Tuesday, as he had been celebrating his daughter Princess Lilibet's second birthday and only flew to the UK late Sunday.
That earned him a rebuke from the judge Timothy Fancourt, who said he was "a little surprised" that the prince was not in court on Monday.
Sherborne said stories about Harry were clearly a money spinner for tabloids and started when he was aged 11.
The pursuit of stories by illegal methods even continued after "the tragic death of his mother" Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 while she was being pursued by photographers.
"No aspect of the young prince's life was safe" from press intrusion and Harry's phone "would have been hacked on multiple occasions", he submitted.
MGN's lawyer Andrew Green said there was "no evidence" the prince's phone was hacked "let alone on a habitual basis" and that payment records used in the claim "do not demonstrate" unlawful information-gathering.