Prince Harry Misses First Day of Phone Hacking Trial

Prince Harry missed an important court date in his legal battle against Mirror Group Newspapers on Monday. The prince was supposed to present himself at the High Court in London for the first hearing in his trial against The Daily Mirror, the newspaper he has sued for allegedly hacking his phone. The newspaper’s legal team emphasized Harry’s absence, suggesting that it meant he was not taking the process seriously.

Harry has accused The Daily Mirror of using illegal means to obtain information to generate stories about him, and the paper’s publisher has tried to distance itself from these allegations without denying them outright. After a long legal process, the trial got started on Monday but the Duke of Sussex was not there. According to a report by Deadline, he was likely celebrating his daughter’s birthday in California on Sunday night, not leaving him enough time to get to London. His attorney, David Sherborne, told the court that Harry would be in the courtroom on Tuesday.

It’s no surprise that the lawyers for the Mirror Group emphasized the prince’s absence. Attorney Andrew Green KC said that it was “extraordinary” that the prince wasn’t there, and that he felt Harry was wasting the court’s time. He even argued that this delay was impeding his ability to cross-examine the prince.

He wasn’t the only one, however. The presiding judge Justice Fancourt said that he was “a little surprised” that Harry wasn’t in court. However, Harry is just one of the three claimants in this lawsuit, so there was business to get to before he arrived.

The prince and two other people claim that The Daily Mirror illegally accessed their voicemails to listen in on them and get information that could potentially generate news stories. They filed a civil lawsuit, meaning that this is still not a criminal case. So far, the lawyers for Mirror Group Newspapers have not completely denied the allegations but have maintained that senior executives knew nothing about any phone hacking.

The publisher has been involved in cases like this before and has even admitted that its journalists have hacked subjects’ phones in the past. They have reportedly paid out settlements of $126 million in similar cases. In the case of Harry, the publisher has still denied hacking his phone but has issued public apologies for other investigative tactics, like hiring a private investigator to gather information about him at a nightclub in 2004.

Harry will appear in court this week to give evidence and submit to cross-examination. According to a report by The Guardian, he will be the first senior royal from the British royal family to be cross-examined in court since the 1800s.