Prince Harry wants to take the witness stand today to make serious allegations against the British tabloid press. They would have spied on him and many others for years.
Yesterday, Prince Harry did not appear in court, much to the surprise of the judge. Today will be different. BBC talks about Harry at the High Court of Justice, son of King Charles III. Take the witness stand. He wanted it that way. Harry seeks confrontation with the tabloids he hates so much.
He is not alone in this. In fact, this case is a civil lawsuit involving more than a hundred people. Four appear in court, Harry being the most prominent of them. The trial revolves around allegations of espionage between 1993 and 2011.
At the time, some newspapers, and certainly publishers, believed they were above the law, says Nathan Sparks of Hacked Off, a campaign campaigning for responsible journalism.
“Anything was possible as long as you didn’t admit it.”
In the specific case, the publisher Mirror Group Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror newspapers, was charged. He is accused of illegally purchasing data and information – with the knowledge of the executive floors.
While the publisher dismisses the allegations, Dan Evans paints a very different picture. Evans was convicted of illegal data collection. The reporter hacked into the Sunday Mirror phones between 2003 and 2005. In an interview with ARD-Studio London Like this: “I can only describe it as the Wild West. Anything was possible as long as you didn’t admit it.”
Prince Harry: The styles caused me depression and paranoia
In Harry’s case, a selection of 33 newspaper articles must show that newspapers had information at the time that they actually could not have. Prince accused the Mirror Group of spying on his relationship with his then-girlfriend Chelsea, and the publisher’s methods instilled depression and paranoia in him.
Apparently, Harry got to the point where he didn’t know who he could trust anymore, because private stuff kept coming out and he had to assume someone had leaked it.
It was the same, says The Mirror Group’s lawyer. Much of the information is said to have come from the royal family itself or its staff.
Harry is an unpleasant prosecutor
As a plaintiff, Prince Harry is very uncomfortable with The Mirror and other tabloids suing him. Because the 38-year-old not only attracts a lot of attention, he also refused to be compared. Dan Evans: “What’s special about having Prince Harry here is that he has the means and the drive to make it happen.”
It will still be difficult for Harry, at least that is expected by many who know what it means to be interrogated. There is a world of difference between being interviewed by a journalist and being cross-examined by an opposition lawyer.
Observers are sure that the publisher’s lawyers will try to undermine Harry’s credibility. At the same time, the prince would have to give very detailed information about very private moments in his life – so that it would be possible to understand who knew what conditions were under them and at certain times and what not.