London
CNN
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Prince Harry will bring the witness stand Tuesday as his years-long battle against Britain’s tabloid media reaches its most dramatic stage yet.
Follow live updates from the courtroom here.
The royal is facing questions in the High Court of London as part of his case against a major newspaper publisher.
He arrived at the venue on Tuesday morning, quickly pushing past a throng of photographers and journalists to enter the building.
The appearance of a British royal in a witness box is a rare occurrence. But Harry has long denounced the tabloid media’s tactics in covering his life, and he will now have the chance to lay out his arguments, under oath, during cross-examination from lawyers for MGN.
This is likely to be a tense and defining look for the duke as he forges his own path further from the rest of the royal family.
Here’s what you need to know about the test.
The Duke of Sussex and three other claimants representing dozens of celebrities sued MGN, accusing its titles of obtaining private information through phone hacking and through other prohibited means. methods, including private investigators, between 1991 and 2011.
The trial began on May 10, and is expected to last seven weeks.
MGN disputes most of the allegations, arguing in its court filings that some claims were brought too late and that in all four cases there was insufficient evidence of phone hacking.
In court documents published last month, the publisher apologized for an instance of unlawful information gathering nearly 20 years ago. That incident involved a private investigator, who was paid £75 ($95) in 2004 by the Sunday People, a tabloid owned by the same group, to gather information about the Duke of Sussex while in a London nightclub.
Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said his claim against MGN, which covers incidents from 1995 to 2011, is “significant not only in terms of the time period but the range of activity it covers.”
Harry was subjected to the most “intrusive means of obtaining personal information,” Sherborne said, arguing that “nobody should be subjected to that.” “Unlawful methods” are “routine and widespread” among journalists, Sherborne added.
A large crowd of media gathered outside the doors to the High Court on Monday morning, hoping for a glimpse of the duke – who it was later revealed would not be there until Tuesday.
Inside the court, Sherborne lays out parts of Harry’s case, introducing some of the articles that will be considered at trial.
The barrister said the illegal activities to gather information “acted like a web” around Harry and took place “under the radar” in MGN newspapers, according to the PA Media news agency.
The first article, from September 1996, was headlined “Diana so sad on Harry’s big day,” and detailed Princess Diana’s visit to see Harry on his 12th birthday, according to PA Media. MGN’s denial is the result of illegal activity and claims that the information is already in the public domain, PA reported.
Another story discussed touched on Harry and Prince William’s relationship in 2003.
Harry can expect heavy cross-examination from the publisher’s lawyers in the witness box this week.
The prince claims that about 140 articles published in titles belonging to the group contained information gathered using illegal methods, and 33 of those articles were selected to be considered at trial, according to the PA Media.
It’s likely that the details of those stories will be heavily parsed.
And while this is Harry’s first appearance in a court case against the British media, it may not be his last.
The case against MGN is one of several lawsuits filed by Harry and his wife, Meghan, in their long-running battle with British tabloids, which they accuse of violating privacy and publishing false stories.
Hannah McKay/Reuters
Harry appeared in the High Court in March for a separate case.
The couple has filed at least seven lawsuits against British and US media organizations since 2019, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN), according to Reuters. NGN published Araw and used to produce News of the World, which was closed in 2011 due to a phone hacking scandal.
In March, Harry appeared in a court hearing in his case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) on allegations of unlawful information gathering, which the group denied.
Harry’s court appearances are very rare. It is believed to be the first time a senior British royal has appeared in person since 2002, when Princess Anne pleaded guilty after her dog bit two children in a park in Windsor, according to PA Media.
It has been more than 130 years since a senior member of the royal family gave evidence in court, when Edward VII was a witness in the 1891 card game libel trial, before he became king, Reuters reported.
It is not yet clear whether Harry’s testimony will affect other royals or his relationships with family members. But his brother and heir to the throne, Prince William, was recently brought into the fray in another of Harry’s cases.
Documents published in April as part of Harry’s lawsuit against NGN state that the publisher privately reached an undisclosed settlement with Prince William over the historic phone hacking. It is not clear how Prince Harry knew of his brother’s settlement, but in his response to the court he wrote that his information was based on a redacted document in which he concluded that Prince William had signed the agreement.
Officials at Kensington Palace, which represents Prince William, told CNN it does not comment on legal proceedings. Buckingham Palace reiterated the same position. Prince Harry said his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, was aware of the settlement talks.
Whether this week’s case will raise questions for other members of the royal family remains to be seen. But it marked a watershed moment in Harry’s efforts against major players in Britain’s media, and his appearance is likely to dominate headlines for days to come.
