has accused the royal family of “without doubt” withholding information from him “for a long time” about phone hacking as they did not want to “open a can of worms”, the High Court has heard.

The allegation – relating to News Group Newspapers – emerged in a witness statement submitted by the Duke of Sussex in the high-profile privacy case against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, which he is bringing alongside Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and others.

In the second day of a preliminary hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, the publisher argued that part of the case should be thrown out as it relies on documents supplied confidentially to the Leveson Inquiry.

The allegations – which are denied – include the hiring of private investigators to place listening devices inside cars and the accessing and recording of private phone conversations.

The court heard on Monday that Prince Harry had lost or “cut off” friends as “everyone became a ‘suspect’ since he was misled by the way that the articles were written into believing that those close to him were the source” of articles about him.