2024-02-04 18:13:20
Harry straightens his tie, buttons his well-cut jacket. His stress is palpable on this morning of June 6, 2023 in the courtroom of the High Court of Justice, in the heart of London. The Duke of Sussex, youngest son of King Charles III, fifth in the line of succession, is heard as the main plaintiff in proceedings he brought against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of Daily Mirror, one of Britain’s leading tabloids. He accuses this daily of having resorted to wiretapping to obtain details about his private life between the mid-1990s and the beginning of the 2010s.
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At first hesitant, his voice strengthened during the five hours of hearing, the tone sometimes irritated or ironic, but always polite. It took guts for the enfant terrible of the Windsor family to confront MGN’s lawyer, Andrew Green, who dissects his arguments without regard for his titles. He also had to overcome the legendary family reluctance to expose his feelings in public. This is the first time in more than a century that a British “royal” has appeared in court since the future Edward VII had to explain his relationship with a married woman in the 1870s .
Charles III warned his younger brother: attacking the tabloids is « mission suicide ». These typically British media outlets, unique cocktails of gossip, news items and political articles, remain formidable. When the Daily Mirrorrather on the left, or the very conservative Daily Mail et Sunowned by News Group, subsidiaries of News Corp, the group founded by Rupert Murdoch, launch campaigns against public figures, they can still be deadly. In 2021, Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock had to resign after the tabloids relayed a video of him kissing a colleague. The fate of Prime Minister Boris Johnson was sealed when these newspapers ran headlines about “Partygate”, parties organized in Downing Street during lockdowns.
Highs and lows
But Harry doesn’t give up. At 39, this man estranged from his father and his older brother, William, exiled since 2020 in the billionaire paradise of Montecito, California, with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children, is on a crusade. “My life’s mission is to change the British media landscape”he said in an interview with ITV in January 2023, during the launch of his autobiography Spare (The Substitute, Fayard, 2023). In addition to MGN, he is suing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of Daily Mail a you Mail on Sunday for illegal collection of information (tapping homes and cars, attempts to access medical or financial data) with six other plaintiffs, including singer Elton John and actress Elizabeth Hurley. Harry also targeted News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of Sun, again for illegal collection of information. Like his wife, he also multiplies complaints for defamation, violation of copyright or the right to privacy.
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