The local media expected that the youngest son of Carlos III, 38, would appear on Monday in the trial against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), publisher of the Mirror newspaper and Sunday People magazine. Journalists and photographers were waiting for him from early hours at the gates of the High Court in London.
But her lawyer, David Sherborne, said he would not take the stand until Tuesday, as he was celebrating his daughter’s second birthday in California and did not fly to the UK until Sunday night.
Judge Timothy Fancourt declared himself “a bit surprised” by the announcement and MGN 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 Duke of Sussex had not returned to his country since his father’s coronation ceremony on May 6, which he attended without his wife, American actress Meghan Markle, and after which he immediately returned to the United States where the couple resides. 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 trial in 1891, before he became monarch.
Harry, who shook the British monarchy when he and Meghan announced more than three years ago that they were leaving the institution, has other open lawsuits against the press in his country. The couple cited unbearable media pressure, and racist attacks on the mixed-race actress, among their reasons for leaving the UK.
Strained relations with the press
Harry already appeared by surprise in a London court in March, in another lawsuit filed by several celebrities -including the singer Elton John- against the group Associated Newspapers Ltd, publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper. But in those preliminary hearings he did not testify, instead he presented your claims 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.
Local authorities downplayed it, but the incident was reminiscent of the 1997 Paris car accident that killed Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, while being chased by photographers.
In his documentary series “Harry & Meghan” and his explosive memoir “In the Shadows,” the prince has accused other members of the British monarchy 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, she claimed, from filing a lawsuit while she was a royal.