Diana, Meghan and the tabloid press: Harry finally gets his day in court

The duke has made it his life’s work to change the British media landscape. He’ll get his chance this week, says Andrew Anthony

The Duke of Sussex is due to give evidence at the high court in London on Tuesday in a joint case he, and many other alleged victims of historic phone hacking, have brought against Mirror Group Newspapers.

It is believed to be the first appearance in the witness box of a senior royal since the 19th century, although in 2002 the Princess Royal pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act, after two children were bitten in Windsor Great Park – by her dog, it should be made clear.

One of the problems is that the British legal system is run in the name of the crown, which is potentially awkward, at least in terms of maintaining the appearance of neutrality. For instance, the MGN trial is being held in the King’s Bench division of the high court, which to Prince Harry is a bit like saying “Pa’s bench”, and features a number of king’s counsels on both sides of the dispute.

So Harry will be making history as well as waves when he gives evidence. While there is much speculation about what exactly he might say, it’s a reasonably safe bet that the man who has described the British tabloid press as “the mothership of online trolling” won’t be celebrating the high journalistic standards of red-top editors and reporters.

One media personality who has been tipped to receive an unflattering mention is Piers Morgan, editor of the Daily Mirror from 1995 to 2004, already named by Harry’s lawyers as one of the senior executives who authorised obtaining private information unlawfully.

Last month Morgan responded to the suggestion that he should apologise to Harry rather like an arsonist who, when asked to put out a blaze at firework factory, reaches for his flamethrower. He wasn’t going to take lectures on privacy invasion, he explained, from “somebody who has spent the last three years ruthlessly and cynically invading the royal family’s privacy for vast commercial gain”.

The question was raised because MGN had opened the high court trial by apologising “unreservedly” to the duke for one instance of unlawful information gathering. Alas, it’s in regard to all the other alleged incidences of unlawful information gathering that Harry seeks justice. His team cited 148 articles as evidence, but only 33 are included in the trial.

The Mirror Group’s barrister, Andrew Green KC, says the publisher denies 28 of them, and has “not admitted” to the other five – that distinction may seem obscure to the layperson, but it’s on these subtly arcane points that frontrank lawyers earn their handsome remuneration. Similarly MGN’s legal team maintains that there is “no evidence, or no sufficient evidence, of voicemail interception” in any of the cases in the trial.

Harry is one of four representative claimants mants who have been selected from m a large group of mostly celebrities es with claims against MGN – the e other three claimants in court are Coronation Street actors Nikki Sanderson and Michael Turner (known nown professionally profesl as Michael Le Vell), and comedian Paul Whitehouse’s hitehouse’s exman, exwife, Fiona Wightman none of whom have been the he subject of an Oprah television special. pecial.

That the duke will be appearing appearinst in court is against the expressed preferences of MGN. N. At a pretrial prehearing, MGN N lawyers sought to persuade the judge dge that Ricky Tomlinson, part of f the wider group of claimants, would d be a more suit- suitable able representative at a the trial. To the relief of all medi media, except MGN, the judge decided that th the most outspoken spoken member of the t royal family would get the nod over ov the bearded bloke in The Royle Family. Fa

The rogue prince is not only taking ing on MGN, but also als has lawsuits against Associated Newspapers, N publishers of the Daily Da Mail and Mail on Sunday, and against News Group Newspapers (NGN), publishers lishers of the Sun and a the News of the World, the t latter of which was closed in 2011 as a resul result of the phonehacking hacking scandal. Royals, Royal celebrities and indeed ind just about everyone everyon else who has been offered o a settlement ment tend t to avoid trials. trials Court is expensive sive a and unpredictable, dicta and it’s estimated esti that NGN’s NG phonehacking hac costs up unti until last year were runni running at more than £1.2bn, 1.2bn, of o which a signifi nificant chunk chun has gone on paying off claiman claimants (and thus keeping them out of o the witness box). That’s NGN, n not MGN – just distinguishing bet between the various ious different, but very similar, lar, sets of publish publishing initials is enough to sap you your NRG. With all due respect res to Michael Turner and Fiona Wightman, their courtroom testaments te are unlikely to travel a around the globe. But Tuesday’s Tuesday arrival of the prince-on-a-missio mission has all the makings of a grippi gripping scene that could perhaps form the centrepiece of any future film dramatisation d of this shadowy and rather sordid did story. For the sak sake of acronymic consistency, such a fi lm ought to be produced by MGM.

How will Harry pe perform under forensic cross-exam examination? Mr Green will certainly make for a much more challeng challenging inquisitor than Oprah Winfrey or Tom Bradby. Yet in a sense, this is the moment that Harry, who says it’s his “life’s work to change the B British media landscape”, has been waiting for – his day in court, his reckoning with the industry that he blames for the death of his mother and demonising ing of his wife.

One senses that his h memoir, Netflix series and various va TV interviews views have not fully exorcised the demons from the duke’s du tormented psyche. An excess of emotion, however, ever, isn’t necessarily an advantage in a courtroom setting. settin But he also possesses vital information. infor Depending on how he performs and what he says, he could do a good deal of damage to the press, the royal family or himself h – or, conceivably, ceivably, all three.

Verdict? Hold the front page.