The lawsuit of Prince Harry against the British press is about to reach its climax, and it threatens to do something he and his family have long feared: put a royal on the stand to confront unpleasant revelations.
The first of three phone hacking lawsuit filed by the Prince Harry goes to trial on Wednesday. Harry and three other celebrities are suing the former Daily Mirror publisher for breach of privacy.
The operations at issue date back more than two decades, when journalists and private investigators collected voicemails in order to spy on members of the royal family, politicians, athletes, celebrities, and even crime victims. The hacking was later exposed, resulting in a scandal.
According to his lawyer, Harry will testify in person in June. It will not be his first appearance in the Supreme Court, following his surprise presence last month to attend the majority of a four-day hearing in another of his challenges.
It’s unclear whether he’ll attend the trial’s opening comments. Harry breezed through London for his father, King Charles III‘s, coronation on Saturday before flying back to California to celebrate his son’s birthday with his family.
The prince has launched a verbal battle against British newspapers in legal claims and in his best-selling memoir “Spare,” vowing to make reforming the media, which he blames for his mother, Princess Diana‘s, death, his life’s purpose. She died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 while attempting to avoid paparazzi.
Harry has also sued the Daily Mail and The Sun over the phone hacking scandal, which erupted after a year-long investigation into press ethics revealed that staff of the now-defunct News of the World tabloid eavesdropped on mobile phone voicemails in 2011.
