It’s not every day that a prince is cross-examined in court. At least not in London. It last appeared there 132 years ago. In 1891, Queen Victoria’s eldest son testified at a court hearing.
It was about a baccarat game that “Bertie” had played in. The whole affair made the later King Edward VII extremely uncomfortable. Which is why it was decided to keep the royals out of the courtroom in the future.
But Prince Harry exposes himself to the spectacle. The paparazzi, whom he hated, were waiting in front of the High Court on London’s Strand, and reporters from all over the world had also come. Dressed in a dark blue suit and purple tie, King Charles’ younger son rushed into the courtroom. Nervous but focused, court reporters reported, he took the witness stand.
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The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex appears not only as a witness, but as one of four plaintiffs. They accuse the Mirror group – Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People – of tapping their phones using a technical vulnerability.
All this at the beginning of the 21st century, when people still spoke messages on mobile boxes. Harry’s mobile phone was an important link to his family at boarding school. “That’s how I kept in touch with my mother, with whom I was very close,” he says in his testimony: “My voice messages were full of incredibly private and sensitive information.”
In order to get private information and stories, some editors-in-chief were fine with any means. This process involves 289 payments to private investigators who tried to get information about Harry and his environment. The Mirror Group rejects the allegations of spying.
However, Mirror Group Newspapers and other tabloids have previously admitted to actually hacking phones. Harry is also a plaintiff with Elton John in a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, including the Daily Mail.
“How much blood must flow from your typing fingers before someone stops this madness?” asks Prince Harry, according to the witness transcript. Despite harsh cross-examination by Mirror group lawyer Andrew Green, Harry responded coolly and concretely, sometimes with ironic interjections, according to court reporters. “Are you here to stop the madness?” he is asked in the courtroom. “I hope so,” replies Harry.
The Duke of Sussex, as he is officially known, wages a private feud of the highest political importance against the British tabloids. He blames her for the death of his mother Diana in 1997. As Harry recounted in his biography Spare and a documentary series on Netflix, he never had any privacy. Reporters and photographers followed him, his brother and their girlfriends everywhere.
If the “Mirror Group” is found guilty, it will not only be Harry and the plaintiffs who will be awarded damages. The verdict would set a precedent for other court cases in which celebrities have sued for similar offenses. The process runs until the end of June.
Source: Tagesspiegel
I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years now and I have worked for some of the biggest news websites in the world. My focus has always been on entertainment news, but I also cover a range of other topics. I am currently an author at Global happenings and I love writing about all things pop-culture related.
