Prince Harry is expected to give evidence at the High Court today over alleged unlawful information gathering by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) – in what will be a landmark appearance in the witness box from a senior royal.
Harry, 38, is suing the publisher, attempting to prove that reporters for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and Sunday People titles were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators, between 1996 and 2010.
MGN is contesting the claims and has either denied or not admitted each of them. The publisher also argues that some of the claimants have brought their legal action too late.
The Duke of Sussex is expected to face cross-examination from the publisher’s lawyers today.
On Monday, his own lawyer David Sherborne made his opening arguments, claiming that Mirror journalists listened to voicemail messages from Princess Diana while Piers Morgan was editor of the newspaper.
He also told the court how alleged intrusion caused “mistrust” between Harry and Prince William, and that “the ups and downs and ins and outs” of his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy “were all revealed and picked apart by the three Mirror Group titles” – something that was “clearly driven by unlawful activity”.
The barrister said:
“There was no time in Harry’s life when he was safe from this activity. Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds and there was no protection from this unlawful information gathering”.
The Barrister
Mr. Sherborne said that Harry did not attend Monday’s court session – much to the “surprise” of the judge, Mr. Justice Fancourt – as he only flew into the UK from Los Angeles on Sunday night, having celebrated his daughter Lilibet’s second birthday earlier that day.
The judge said he had given a direction earlier in the trial that witnesses should be available the day before they were due to give evidence, in case the legal teams’ opening speeches ran short.
The Duke of Sussex’s appearance in the witness box will mark the first for a senior royal at the High Court since 1891 when then heir-to-the-throne Prince Edward was called to give evidence during the Royal Baccarat Scandal – a case about cheating at cards.
What is Harry claiming?
Harry alleges about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 of these have been selected to be considered at the trial.
Mr. Sherborne told the court that the 147 articles were a “fraction” of all the articles written about the duke’s private life during that time, adding that MGN disclosed “almost 2,500” articles published about him throughout that period.
During his opening, the barrister claimed that details about the prince’s life were “a story too good not to publish”.
He said:
“It’s clear that stories about Prince Harry’s private life drove sales, it’s obvious”.
The Barrister
Mr. Sherborne said:
“Articles about the royal were the ends that justify the means for the defendant. The unlawful means which is what this claim is about.
“Every facet of his life, even the revelations of the ups and downs of his first serious relationships with Ms. Davy, is still splashed across the paper as an exclusive”.
Mr. Sherborne
The barrister later described Harry as “one of the most written about individuals in those newspapers” for several years.
In the afternoon, MGN’s lawyer, Andrew Green KC, had his turn to address the court, and said there was no evidence to support the duke’s claims.
He said:
“It was obvious that security arrangements around Harry were like very few on Earth, and that any journalist would know they would be taking an absolutely enormous risk in carrying out any unlawful activity around the royal”.
MGN’s Lawyer, Andrew Green KC
He also dismissed the claim that Princess Diana’s voicemails were hacked as “total speculation” and “without any evidential basis whatsoever”.
