Prince Harry will appear at London’s High Court next week (Picture: AP)
Prince Harry will become the first royal to testify in court for 130 years in a lawsuit against a newspaper group he accuses of unlawful behaviour.
He will appear at London’s High Court as part of a case involving himself and 100 other celebrities against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), now owned by Reach Plc.
Edward VII previously testified as a witness as part of a divorce in 1870 and 20 years later in a slander trial over a card game, both before he became king.
Harry is embroiled in a bitter row with the press amid the release of his Netflix documentary Spare, in which he accuses other senior royals of colluding with the tabloids.
David Yelland former editor of The Sun, said royals tend to avoid court cases because they have no control over the situation.
‘These cases are often a case of mutually assured destruction. I don’t think anyone will get out looking great,’ he said.
‘It’s hard to escape the notion that he’s using the courts, because he knows that when he is in the witness box, he will be believed.
‘It is the ultimate interview to be cross-examined by a hostile barrister in the witness box.’
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Harry is embroiled in a bitter row with the tabloid press (Picture: Reuters)
The trial started last month which involves allegations MGN journalists carried out phone-hacking on an ‘industrial scale’.
During the beginning of the trial, MGN apologised in court documents and admitted on one occasion the Sunday People had unlawfully sought information about Harry and he was entitled to compensation.
Harry and other celebrities also allege other unlawful acts to obtain information were carried out.
The claimants lawyer David Sherborne alleges this was all carried out under the knowledge of senior editors and executives.
But MGN denies the allegations and says senior editors deny knowing anything about the phone hacking.
It has rejected Harry’s other allegations, saying he had no evidence for his claims.
Harry and Meghan accused members of the royal family of being complicit in leaking stories to the tabloid press (Picture: Reuters)
Buckingham Palace is likely to feature in Harry’s cross-examination with MGN arguing that some information had come from royal aides.
One story allegedly about Harry came when King Charles’s former deputy private secretary and Piers Morgan were having ‘regular meals and drinking sessions together’.
The high court was previously told by a journalist and biographer of Harry that one of those who knew about hacking was Morgan.
It is alleged Piers Morgan knew about the phone hacking (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Morgan has been an outspoken critics of both Harry and Meghan since they decided to leave the royal family.
He famously left his old show at ITV’s Good Morning Britain over his comments about Meghan.
Morgan denies any involvement in unlawful behaviour and has accused Harry of invading his own family’s privacy.
It will be the second time Harry attends court in London – the first being when he joined singer Elton John and others for hearings in March over their lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Sunday Mail tabloids, DMG Media.
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Edward VII was the last royal to testify in court.