Prince Harry arrives at High Court to give evidence in hacking trial

Prince Harry arrives at High Court where he will become first royal to give evidence for more than 130 years after being rebuked by judge for missing first day of his own hacking case because of Lilibet’s birthday

Prince Harry has today arrived at the High Court for his phone hacking trial against the publisher of the Daily Mirror where he will become the first royal to testify since 1891.

The Duke of Sussex jetted into the UK from California on Monday and looked relaxed and even smiled as he entered the High Court’s modern annexe – the Rolls Building – saying ‘good morning’ to the waiting press.

Yesterday he was criticised by one of Britain’s top judges and accused of wasting court time after missing the first day of his historic case – to celebrate his daughter Lilibet’s birthday in Montecito before flying to Britain.

This morning Harry enters the witness box to become the first senior royal to give evidence in 132 years, swearing an oath to tell the truth beneath his father the Sovereign’s coat of arms.

Harry and three others are suing the Mirror group claiming the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspaper hacked their phones or conducted other illegal activity, which is denied.

In 1891 Edward VII gave evidence when a slander action was brought by a card player accused of cheating at baccarat at a time when gambling was illegal. His appearance in the witness box left Queen Victoria unamused – but it is not known what Harry’s father, King Charles III, thinks about his son’s historic court appearance.

The Duke of Sussex will be in the High Court witness box for two days this week – twice as long as he spent when he came for the Coronation. It is not clear if he will see his father or brother this week – or meet his cousin Princess Eugenie’s new son Ernest, who was born last Tuesday.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, walks into the High Court today where he will give evidence – the first royal for more than a century

Harry is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles, which also include the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, were linked to methods including phone hacking

Harry smiled and said good morning to people waiting to see him in central London

Harry was not in court yesterday – missing it because he stayed in California for daughter Lilibet’s 2nd birthday, which led to a telling off from the judge

He was met at the door of the court by his KC David Sherborne

Harry and Meghan attend the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York on May 16

He made a flying visit for the momentous day his father King Charles was crowned, spending around 28 hours in Britain before dashing back to California.

Prince Harry will stay in Britain twice as long as he did for the Coronation 

It comes just over a month after Harry attended the Coronation of his father the King on May 6

The Duke of Sussex will be in the High Court witness box for two days this week – twice as long as he spent when he came for the Coronation.

He made a flying visit for the momentous day his father King Charles was crowned, spending around 28 hours in Britain before dashing back to California.

But the duke seems to have more time to devote to his legal crusade against the Mirror newspapers’ publisher.

He is expected to spend a full day in the witness box at the High Court today and at least half a day tomorrow. In fact, he could have begun giving his evidence yesterday, but he did not fly to the UK until Sunday evening so that he could help celebrate his two-year-old daughter’s birthday. Earlier this year, Harry spent another three days in the High Court watching a preliminary hearing in a separate court battle he is waging against the publisher of the Mail.

At the Coronation on May 6, Harry flew in the day before. He sat in the third row at Westminster Abbey, two rows behind his brother William, before hurrying back to Heathrow as soon as the service was over.

By the time King Charles and Queen Camilla were waving from the Buckingham Palace balcony, he was already at the airport, on his way back to his Montecito mansion for his son Archie’s fourth birthday.

But the duke seems to have more time to devote to his legal crusade against the Mirror newspapers’ publisher.

He is expected to spend a full day in the witness box at the High Court today and at least half a day tomorrow. 

In fact, he could have begun giving his evidence yesterday, but he did not fly to the UK until Sunday evening so that he could help celebrate his two-year-old daughter’s birthday.

An exasperated judge rebuked the duke’s barrister when it became clear the royal witness was ‘unavailable’ for the opening day of his own case suing the publisher of the Mirror newspaper.

David Sherborne explained that his client was in a ‘different category’ because of his ‘travel and security arrangements’. Those arrangements involved Harry flying from California on Sunday night after celebrating Princess Lilibet of Sussex’s second birthday, the court heard.

The Mirror’s KC Andrew Green said it was ‘absolutely extraordinary’ that Harry was ‘not available for day one of his trial’. Mr Justice Fancourt said he was ‘a little surprised’ that Harry was not there, and admonished Mr Sherborne for causing ‘timetable chaos’. 

Harry, 38, complains that a 2003 article in The People deepened a bitter rift with Prince William – revealing the brothers fell out two decades ago over Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell. It described an allegedly private disagreement over how to handle Mr Burrell, who had been accused of talking to the media about her private affairs.

William was said to have claimed that meeting Mr Burrell was ‘the only way to stop him selling more Diana secrets’ while Harry thought the former servant would simply use the opportunity to make money. Mr Sherborne said: ‘Even at this very early formative stage the seeds of discord between these two brothers are starting to be sown.’ He claimed Harry had been subjected to unlawful activities from when he was a young boy, past the death of his mother, through Sandhurst army training and into young adulthood.

He said: ‘Nothing was sacrosanct and out of bounds – every facet of his life, even the revelations of the ups and downs of his first serious relationship with Chelsy Davy.’ But the publisher’s KC insisted: ‘There is simply no evidence that the Duke of Sussex was ever hacked – still less that he was hacked on a habitual basis.’

Mr Green said unlike other hacking cases which were supported by phonecall data, Harry’s case had ‘zilch, zero, nada’ similar evidence. He also said it was a ‘striking fact’ that not even convicted phone hackers Graham Johnson and Dan Evans – former Mirror journalists who have given evidence in support of Harry – have said that the duke or those close to him were hacked. 

Harry is one of a number of high-profile figures have brought claims against Mirror Group Newspapers over alleged unlawful information gathering at its titles

The Prince, Coronation Street actors Michael Turner and Nikki Sanderson and Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman, make allegations that the publisher’s journalists were linked to voicemail interception

David Sherborne, Harry’s barrister, at London’s High Court today

A court artist’s sketch of Harry’s barrister David Sherborne (left) at the High Court, where Harry and he were both criticised

A box of paperwork marked ‘Duke of Sussex’ is brought into the High Court in London 

Mr Green added that the Metropolitan Police had thoroughly investigated the phone hacking scandal and had never suggested to Harry that he was a victim. Harry alleges about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 contained information gathered using unlawful methods.

Mr Sherborne claimed the duke’s phone ‘would have been hacked on multiple occasions’ along with those of his family, friends and royal aides. He said Harry – who is also suing The Sun’s publisher and that of the Daily Mail – was not pursuing ‘a vendetta generally against the UK media’ but wanted to use his fame to ‘focus attention’.

Piers Morgan’s Daily Mirror was also hacking Princess Diana’s voicemails from Harry when he was a schoolboy, it was claimed.

Mr Sherborne said the title’s former editor had boasted he heard Diana had secretly comforted TV comic Michael Barrymore, who was in turmoil over addiction and coming out as gay, adding: ‘How he heard was obvious – the Mirror was listening in to her messages and would have heard private messages from Prince Harry.’

Mr Green said this was ‘total speculation without any evidential basis whatsoever’. The case is set to last seven weeks, hearing claims by Coronation Street actors Michael Turner and Nikki Sanderson and comedian Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

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