Finally! Here we are. Curtain up, drum roll. Lights, action and here comes the judge, followed closely by the Duke of Sussex, a day late.
In the corner of a civil courtroom, seated in a light wooden witness box, Prince Harry at first seemed delighted to finally have his day in court. Yet after a murderous five hours of cross-examination by Andrew Green KC, acting for Mirror Group Newspapers, one wonders if he felt as buoyant.
With scrupulous politeness, the renowned lawyer led the prince through his ever-stealthy step-by-step testimony. Time and time again, it seemed to me that the prince had trouble convincingly verifying the facts of his case and had an alarming understanding of the details. He was vague as to the first time he had read the MGN newspaper articles in question.
He was vague on precisely why he thought the printed information had been gleaned by illegal methods. He was even vague about a hunting trip with then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy to South Africa in 2005.
It’s the kind of event you’d think everyone would remember, complete with roaring lions, giraffes and rhinos, but no. “I don’t remember,” he said.
Time and time again, it seemed to me that the prince had trouble convincingly verifying the facts of his case and had an alarming understanding of the details.
In the corner of a civil courtroom, seated in a light wooden witness box, Prince Harry at first seemed delighted to finally have his day in court. Yet after a murderous five hours of cross-examination by Andrew Green KC, acting for Mirror Group Newspapers, one wonders if he felt as buoyant
When asked repeatedly how he could prove that articles had been pirated, he answered: “You would have to ask the journalists themselves. All he had in his thorny arsenal was the belief that “the timing was suspicious.” Trickier requests were met: “This is a question for my legal team.”
It was amazing. At various stages, he also could not remember what his attorneys had or had not shown him before the trial began, and he struggled to be specific. “More than thousands, maybe millions,” he guessed, from the number of articles written about him.
Yet while the princely sketch was sketchy and his brushstrokes worse than slick, his big, oily image was vivid, overwhelming, and unsurprising. “I have known hostility from the press since I was born,” he said at one point.
This is patently and blatantly untrue, but it is what Prince Harry believes to be true, which is why we are here today.
Time and time again, he turned to the judge, taking it upon himself to explain to Your Honor how the newspaper industry works. “Knowing what I know from my experience” is how he put it. He also took the time to poke fun at specialist journalists and suggested they use “imaginary sources”.
s Mr Green circled again and again, how Harry must have longed for the schmaltzy embrace of an Oprah interview or the gentle attentions of his friendly ITV friend Tom Bradby
However, there was at least one moment when it became clear that his knowledge of the journals is not as complete as he believes. ‘I’ve never heard of anyone writing a story that’s already been printed and sending [selling] it works,” he said, which must have had editors across the country laughing on a gloomy day.
For his big moment, Harry wore a dark suit, white shirt, purple tie and a clutch of groovy beaded bracelets on his right wrist.
The courtroom, with its low ceiling and unflattering lighting, was piled high with silks in wigs – at least five, including David Sherborne, Harry’s lush lawyer.
All around the room were boxes and boxes of evidence, testifying to the hours and hours of work and the millions and millions of pounds this case cost.
In the box, the prince was frequently asked to search for paragraphs in his witness statement, in various legal bundles, on numbered pages of the box files that he had to retrieve from the floor.
“It’s like working out,” he grumbled. Mr Sherborne had to get a junior barrister to sit next to him to help him navigate the paperwork – something even Johnny Depp managed to do himself during his trial in London.
For his big moment, Harry wore a dark suit, white shirt, purple tie and a clutch of groovy beaded bracelets on his right wrist.
Harry has never been seen like this before; under sustained pressure, he is called to account for himself and his barrage of accusations in the dark confines of a court
For those in the courtroom or, like me, watching the court wire, it was a fascinating sight. Harry has never been seen like this before; under sustained pressure, he was called to account for himself and his barrage of accusations in the dark confines of a court of law.
Sure, he’s no stranger to public interlocutions, but it was very different from being pampered and spoiled by his showbiz pals in a rose garden.
It was serious, formal, demanding. As Mr Green turned on and on, how Harry must have longed for the schmaltzy embrace of an Oprah interview or the gentle attentions of his friendly ITV friend Tom Bradby. Instead, he had medical examiner Mr. Green. ‘So what? So what?’ barked the KC at one point, as Harry spoke from an irrelevant point of anger.
It’s no surprise that the prince’s level of earthiness seemed to increase as the day progressed – you don’t need a gauge to measure actual depths, but here it is, all the same.
“Repeat the question,” he asked at one point. At other times, he had trouble locating the evidence on the screen in front of him. “It’s on the screen in front of you,” Mr. Green told him.
“It’s not,” said Harry.
“I think so,” said the lawyer.
“If you say so,” said Harry, a 38-year-old who can still locate his inner teenage Kevin with distressing ease. Hour after hour, the Harry who emerged in court was a combustible mix of victimhood and arrogance. The latter often took precedence but his broken side, the damaged side, was never far away.
My favorite exchange of the day was a deeply revealing exchange over a news article about Harry celebrating his 16th birthday in a Fulham gastropub. The prince was convinced that the MGN had taken hold of this story by illegal methods. Mr Green suggested that the celebrity chef who worked there might have called the paper himself.
“As a chef, he would be too busy to make that call,” Harry said. In response, Mr Green suggested he would have other chefs working for him.
“I have no idea, I’ve never worked in a kitchen,” the prince said, somehow managing to contradict himself, act like an authorized snob and make no sense, all this at the same time.
The Duke of Sussex is cross-examined by Andrew Green KC, as he gives evidence at the Rolls Buildings in central London during the phone hacking trial against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN)
In the end, what came out of his historic first day in court is, I would say, a man who is strangely insubstantial and just can’t admit he’s wrong, even when presented with evidence. damning to the contrary. He often complained in general terms about his treatment by the media over the years, instead of addressing the specific issues brought before him.
“Prince Harry, let’s try to focus on the question I’m asking,” a weary Mr Green said late in the afternoon. The case continues. Prince Harry will be back in court today.
