2023-06-05 22:09:00
Prince Harry of Sussex will testify in a British court on Tuesday against a tabloid media conglomerate he accuses of illegally collecting information about him, becoming the first member of the royal family to testify in court in more than a century.
The local media expected the youngest son of King Carlos III, 38, to appear on Monday in the trial against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), publisher of the Mirror newspaper and Sunday People magazine. Journalists and photographers had been waiting for him since early morning at the gates of the Supreme Court in London, but his lawyer, David Sherborne, reported that he would not take the stand today, since he was celebrating his daughter’s second birthday in California. , United States, and did not fly to the UK until Sunday evening.
Judge Timothy Fancourt declared himself “a little surprised” by the announcement and MGN’s lawyer, Andrew Green, “deeply disturbed” by the absence of Harry, whom he said he wanted to question for a day and a half, regretting the “lost time” on Monday afternoon, the AFP news agency reported. .
The Duke of Sussex had not returned to his country since his father’s coronation ceremony on May 6which he attended without his wife, American actress Meghan Markleand after which he immediately returned to the United States, where the couple has resided since 2020.
When he testifies on Tuesday, it will be the first statement by a British royal. since Edward VII, who did so in a libel suit in 1891, before becoming monarch.
Harry, who shook the British monarchy when he and Meghan announced more than three years ago that they were leaving the institution, He has other open lawsuits against the press in his country.
The couple cited unbearable media pressure, and racist attacks against the actress, the first mixed-race woman to join the royal family, among their reasons for leaving the UK.
Harry already made a surprise appearance in a London court in March, in another lawsuit filed by several celebrities – including singer Elton John – against the group Associated Newspapers Ltdeditor of the tabloid newspaper Daily Mail. But in these preliminary hearings he did not testify, but presented his allegations in writing.
The prince, fifth in line to the throne, and his wife maintain very tense relations with the media. A few weeks ago they claimed to have starred in an “almost catastrophic” car chase by paparazzi on the streets of New York.
The local authorities downplayed it, but the event recalled the 1997 traffic accident in Paris in which Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, diedwhen she was chased by photographers.
In her docu-series “Harry & Meghan” and her explosive memoir “In the Shadows”, the prince accused other members of the British monarchy, including his older brother, Prince William and next heir to the throne, of colluding with the press. And in court papers filed with the courts in April, he claimed the royal family had reached a “secret agreement” with a publisher to prevent any of its members from having to take the stand. This prevented her from filing a lawsuit while he was a royal.
Harry and other celebrities – two television actors and the ex-wife of a comedian – accuse publications from the MGN group of collecting information about them using illegal methods, including hacking into their phones, between 1996 and 2011.
At the start of the trial on May 10, MGN acknowledged “some indications” of illegal information gathering, apologized and assured that “this conduct will not be repeated.”
In his opening arguments, Sherborne accused MGN of having used the services of “at least 30 different private detectives” to illegally gather information. He had a “great interest” in “every aspect of his private life” because articles about the rebellious young prince “drove sales,” he stressed.
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