In a surprising revelation, Prince Harry acknowledged in court on Tuesday that a section of his controversial memoir, which suggested that a school friend betrayed his trust by selling his story to the press, was founded on an erroneous "assumption." The Duke of Sussex admitted to questioning the veracity of his own narrative.

The Prince, aged 38, elaborated on the incident which occurred over two decades ago at Eton College, during which classmates jokingly shaved his head. He initially presumed the incident made headlines due to a traitorous friend, he shared with the court, as reported by The Telegraph.

"As a young boy at school, I couldn't fathom how that story became public. So I made an assumption [that a friend was responsible]," he clarified his account in the book "Spare," published earlier this year.

However, "Many years later, it seems that wasn't the case," the Prince conceded.

As part of his ongoing lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), whom he accuses of using unscrupulous means to obtain private information, Prince Harry shared how press scrutiny adversely affected his friendships. He is the first senior royal in 130 years to appear in court since his great great great grandfather, Edward VII, before his ascension to the throne.

During his testimony, the Prince shed light on how media invasiveness strained his personal connections. The continuous scrutiny and suspicion led to several of his friends distancing themselves. He revealed the resulting paranoia made him more reticent.

The prince expressed particular distress over two 2002 articles accusing him of drug use with his friends, as reported by SkyNews.

“The tactic of the defendant’s journalists to involve my friends and malign them was revolting to me,” he wrote in his comprehensive 55-page witness statement.

The Prince's assumption that his schoolmates were leaking information to the media was one of many explosive allegations in "Spare". The memoir has further strained the relationship between Harry, his wife Meghan Markle, and his father, King Charles III.

Meghan famously decided against attending King Charles's coronation on May 6, while Harry returned promptly to their California residence after attending the main service.

This trial against MGN is the first of several media lawsuits pursued by Prince Harry. The defendant insists that it utilized documents, public declarations, and legal sources to accurately report on the young royal's actions.

In his memoir, Prince Harry humorously mentioned that his “hair never fully recovered after letting [his] Eton classmates shave it off,” leading to his premature balding.