Prince Harry has returned to court for the next stage of his legal battle with Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

The Duke, wearing a dark suit and silver tie, smiled and waved to crowds as he emerged from a black Range Rover shortly at 9.52am.

He said good morning but did not answer reporters’ questions before walking into London’s Rolls Building and passing security checks to enter the courtroom.

He is is suing MGN for damages over alleged unlawful information gathering.

Yesterday, Harry spoke out against Piers Morgan, ‘Hewitt rumours’ and the Government.

He faced nearly five hours of questions from a barrister as he became the first senior royal in more than two decades to appear personally in court proceedings.

In a blistering 55-page witness statement, Harry spoke of journalists having ‘blood’ on their ‘typing fingers’.

Describing the process of the tabloid press reacting to a new member of the Royal Family, he wrote: ‘You start off as a blank canvas while they work out what kind of person you are and what kind of problems and temptations you might have.

‘They then start to edge you towards playing the role or roles that suit them best and which sells as many newspapers as possible, especially if you are the “spare” to the “heir”.

‘You’re then either the “playboy prince”, the “failure”, the “drop out” or, in my case, the “thicko”, the “cheat”, the “underage drinker”, the “irresponsible drug taker”, the list goes on.’

Harry’s statements were reported by journalists in the court room but, since cameras are not allowed to film the proceedings, news networks enlisted lookalikes to bring the story to life.

Doing so garnered mix reaction.

Yesterday afternoon, Harry was accused of operating in the ‘realms of total speculation’ over claims of phone hacking or illegal activity.

During his cross-examination at the High Court,  Andrew Green, KC for Mirror Group Newspapers, told The Duke of Sussex: ‘That’s not an answer’ in a heated moment.

Mr Green said ‘Are we not, Prince Harry, in the realms of total speculation?’ shortly after the royal, 38, said he was ‘not sure’ whose phone was hacked when he broke his thumb playing football at Eton and it appeared in the Press.

The barrister was asking Harry about an article headlined ‘Snap: Harry breaks thumb like William’ which appeared in the Daily Mirror in November 2000.

Harry confirmed to Mr Green that he complains about the reporting in this article of an injury to his thumb and added: ‘I do not believe that is in the public interest.’

The duke said he was not aware the information about his thumb had been reported by the Press Association, in an article the day before the Mirror one which quoted a St James’s Palace spokesperson.

Asked whether he had expressed any concerns to the Press Association about that article, Harry said he had not, adding that he was ‘not aware’ of it.

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