Prince Harry began giving evidence at the High Court for his phone hacking trial against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, becoming the first royal to testify in open court since 1891.
Harry was sporting a navy suit and dark purple tie as he entered the witness box and swore an oath to tell the truth on the Bible beneath his father the Sovereign’s coat of arms.
The Duke of Sussex jetted into the United Kingdom from California on Monday and looked relaxed and even smiled as he entered the High Court’s modern annexe, the Rolls Building, saying good morning to the waiting press.
However, he was criticised by one of Britain’s leading judges and accused of wasting court time after missing the first day of his historic case, to celebrate his daughter Lilibet’s birthday in Montecito before flying to Britain.
Harry and three others are suing the Mirror group, claiming the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspaper hacked their phones or conducted other illegal activity, which has been denied.
In 1891 Edward VII gave evidence when a slander action was brought by a card player accused of cheating at baccarat at a time when gambling was prohibited. His appearance in the witness box left Queen Victoria unamused, but it’s also not known what Harry’s father, King Charles III, feels about his son’s historic court appearance.
The Duke of Sussex will be in the High Court witness box for two days this week, twice as long as he spent when he came for the King’s Coronation, and it’s not clear if he will see his father or brother this week, or meet his cousin Princess Eugenie’s new son Ernest, who was born last Tuesday.
He made a flying visit for the momentous day his father King Charles was crowned, spending about 28 hours in Britain before flying back to California. However, the duke appears to have more time to devote to his legal crusade against the Mirror newspaper’s publisher.
He was expected to spend a full day in the witness box at the High Court and at least half the following day.
In fact, he could have begun giving his evidence, but he didn’t fly to the United Kingdom until Sunday night so that he could help celebrate his two-year-old daughter’s birthday.
An exasperated judge rebuked the duke’s barrister when it became clear the royal witness was unattainable for the opening day of his own case suing the publisher of the Mirror newspaper.
Does this mean that Harry believes the world rotates around him? Well, it actually doesn’t matter because the judge certainly wasn’t impressed.
Harry is so concerned about the environment, yet he flies back and forth over the Atlantic whilst preaching to the rest of us, and it looks like the ego has landed, so let’s sit back and grab some popcorn.
And he’s not a royal anymore. He decided to give that up. Now he’s just a bloke in court like numerous others.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 