Prince Harry doesn’t show up for first day of case against British newspaper

For a man who says that his “life’s work” is to change the British “media landscape,” Prince Harry has a funny way of showing it. The Duke of Sussex skipped the first day of proceedings in his case against the Mirror because, er, he was celebrating his daughter’s birthday. Talk about getting off to a good start…

The renegade royal is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages over alleged unlawful information gathering. But as court proceedings kicked off in London this morning, it was Harry who was the object of the judge’s ire. Justice Fancourt, who is hearing the case, told the court that he was left “a little surprised” to hear that Prince Harry would not be in attendance on Monday.

It was left to the Duke’s barrister, David Sherborne — star of such D-list dramas as the “Wagatha Christie” case — to tell the court that his client will likely now be giving evidence on Tuesday after flying into the UK overnight from Los Angeles, where he celebrated Princess Lilibet’s birthday.

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, said it was “extraordinary” that Harry was not in the High Court for the opening of his own case. He told the court that has “quite a lot to get through” with the Duke, and will need around one and a half days:

I have to cross-examine him on thirty-three articles… and that cannot be done in one day. If I am to put to him even a small number of the public domain documents and in many cases explain the sources of the information… The documents are relevant to the question of damages.

It’s the first time a senior royal will be questioned in court since 1891. Get the popcorn in…

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.