Harry's BIGGEST BATTLE

THE DUKE OF SUSSEX IS GETTING READY TO TESTIFY AS HE RETURNS TO COURT

- Sara Tapia

He did two tours of Afghanistan during his decade-long stint in the British army, but Prince Harry is now embroiled in a war of a different kind. The Duke of Sussex, 38, is one of a group of celebrities that filed a lawsuit back in 2019 against the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over allegations of phone hacking, with the case only recently making it to court.

Harry and the other claimants are accusing MGN titles of habitually engaging in widespread phone hacking, deception and other illicit means to access private information between 1991 and 2011. It’s said that senior executives had full knowledge of the unlawful behaviour at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, with the claimants saying they not only failed to stop it but had actively covered it up.

“Prince or not, the blatantly unlawful and illegal methods that were used by the defendant … was quite frankly appalling,” David Sherborne, the lawyer representing Prince Harry and the other claimants, said during the start of the hearing.

MGN is contesting the allegations, saying that there is no evidence Prince Harry is a victim of hacking. It says its stories about Harry came from leaks from confidential sources, friends of the prince and royal press officers. However, in documents lodged with the High Court in London, it admits to one occasion of engaging a private investigator to gather evidence about him in 2004 at a nightclub – for which it “unreservedly apologises and accepts that [Prince Harry] is entitled to appropriate compensation”.