Prince Harry is one of four people claiming Mirror Group newspapers hacked their voicemails. It is one of several cases the Duke of Sussex is currently involved in with British tabloids.
Prince Harry is likely to face detailed questioning about highly personal news stories which he claims were obtained through unlawful means – an allegation which the newspaper group disputes. He could face gruelling questioning about stories relating to his relationships, his girlfriends, his mother Diana, the treatment of Meghan and his life growing up in the Royal Family.
He is the first royal of modern times to give evidence and be cross-examined in a British court. This means that he will face the type of open, public and tough questioning that is a long way from any previous royal interview he has taken part in. It is highly unusual for a royal to appear in court. In 2022, Princess Anne became the first member of the royal family to have a criminal record when she pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act after one of her pets bit two children in Windsor Great Park.
There have already been challenges to the allegations of Prince Harry and his co-complainants. Lawyers for Mirror Group have said the evidence of hacking is “slim” in some cases and “utterly non-existent” in others.
Prince Harry’s own memoir, Spare, might be turned against him, with its accounts of drug taking and family tensions, notes the BBC.
A previous hacking case this year against News Group Newspapers already produced the bombshell claim that Prince William had reached a private settlement with the newspaper publishers – it is reported that Harry himself revealed William’s settlement, while William was the one who established that phone hacking was taking place to begin with.
Part of the mystique of the monarchy is in saying little and answering less. Prince Harry is breaking an unspoken taboo, the BBC points out.
For Harry, this event symbolizes a court confrontation that can be traced directly back to the paparazzi-induced death of his mother Diana in 1997. He has repeatedly connected that moment to his battle with the tabloid press, including through analogies with his wife, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.
More questions are raised by another key part of the argument against throwing out this case for being out of time – in what Prince Harry’s court documents call the “secret agreement”.This is claimed as a deal between palace officials and News Group Newspapers in which cases involving the royals would be dealt with after other cases had been settled, to avoid embarrassing court appearances or hacking evidence being put into the public domain
“There was no such secret agreement”, responded the lawyers for News Group Newspapers, rejecting such claims as being “without merit in fact or in law”. The newspaper group also suggests Prince Harry must have known about reports of hacking at a much earlier stage, having been at the “epicentre” of the story, and they argue he could have acted sooner.
“What I complain of here is about illegal or unlawful activities, and that is something which I feel incredibly strongly about, not just in a personal capacity but as part of the role I have always taken on, in terms of my duty to stand against things which are unjust”, Harry writes.
This afternoon’s session at the High Court is now under way.
