Prince Harry arrives at High Court to testify in landmark phone-hacking trial

The Duke of Sussex has arrived at the High Court to give evidence in his claim against Mirror Group Newspapers.

Harry arrived outside the Rolls Building in central London at 9.36am in a black Range Rover, wearing a black suit.

He walked into the building without answering reporters’ questions before passing security checks inside.

Prince Harry is due to give evidence in a historic appearance at the High Court on Tuesday in his case against the Daily Mirror’s publisher over alleged unlawful information gathering after he skipped the first day of the trial on Monday.

The Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles – which also include the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People – were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

The duke had been expected to arrive at court on Monday but will now testify on Tuesday, becoming the first prince to do so for 130 years.

David Sherborne, acting for Harry, said the duke’s relationship with his brother, the Prince of Wales, suffered “mistrust” because of articles published by the Mirror publisher, the court heard on Monday.

This comes as it has been revealed Harry is battling on another front as his US visa is set to be challenged in court after he admitted illegal drug use in his memoir Spare.

Prince Harry arrived at the High Court in London on Tuesday 6 June, where he will become the first senior British royal to give evidence for 150 years when he testifies in his lawsuit against a newspaper group he accuses of extensive unlawful behaviour.

The Duke of Sussex is headed for a courtroom showdown with the publisher of the Daily Mirror – Mirror Group Newspapers – and walked into court in front of a media scrum.

Harry is expected to describe his anguish and anger over being hounded by the press throughout his life, and its impact on those around him.

As Prince Harry enters the witness box in a historic showdown on Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex will face Andrew Green KC, the renowned barrister acting on behalf of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

Mr Green, who has fought various high-profile cases in his 35 years at the Bar, will be seeking to “tear his case to shreds”, a High Court barrister told Sky News on Monday – as a former adversary warned The Independent that the duke may not even realise if he slips up during cross-examination.

Having been awarded silk in 2010 – the honour bestowed upon only elite lawyers – Mr Green has previously been described as a “beast in court”, in remarks publicised on his profile at Blackstone Chambers.

A man has appeared outside the High Court with a placard of Harry and Meghan dressed up as Joseph and Mary.

No one is quite clear who this man is or why he is there with a painting of the Duke and Duke of Sussex in religious attire – but he sparked a flurry of interest as the crowds gathered to take photos of him and his sign.

The phone hacking trial has attracted interest from all around the world.

A royal scandal in the Victorian era involving gambling, an illegal card game, and accusations of cheating set the scene for the last time a prince stepped into the witness box in a British court.

Royal fans have to look back 130 years to find accounts of an “extremely nervous” and pale-faced future King Edward VII giving evidence in a slander case after a spectacular falling out with his best friend in 1890.

Centred on the illicit card game of baccarat, the furore – dubbed “the royal baccarat scandal” or “the Tranby Croft affair” – proved an unedifying moment for all involved, and distinctly damaging for the crown.

After the Prince of Wales’s former close friend, Lieutenant Colonel Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet, of the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating in the game, Lt Col Gordon-Cumming took his accusers to court and the prince acted as a key witness for the defence.

The “poor showing” of the nervous Prince of Wales in particular proved “disastrous” for the royal family, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.

The US government is set to be challenged in court over its decision not to disclose the reasoning behind admitting the Duke of Sussex into the country, despite his admissions of illegal drug use.

Prince Harry’s reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir Spare prompted a conservative Washington DC think tank to question why he was allowed into the US in 2020.

The Heritage Foundation brought the lawsuit against the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) after a Freedom of Information Act request was rejected – claiming it was of “immense public interest”.

The duke had been expected to arrive at court on Monday but will not appear until Tuesday.

The hearing in London heard Harry had flown to the UK from Los Angeles in the US on Sunday night, as he was celebrating his daughter Lilibet’s second birthday.

Mr Justice Fancourt, the judge hearing the case, said he was “a little surprised” to hear that the duke would not be attending court on Monday.

Set to enter the witness box on Tuesday morning, Harry is due to face up to a day-and-a-half of cross-examination from MGN’s barrister.

The last time a prince testified in court was when the future King Edward VII appeared as a witness in June 1891 in the Tranby Croft Affair case to give evidence on a slander accusation arising from a card game.

William Gordon-Cumming, a lieutenant-colonel in the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating at the game baccarat at a house party at Tranby Croft in East Yorkshire where Bertie was a guest.

Harry’s appearance is thought to be the first time a senior member of the royal family has personally appeared in court proceedings since 2002, when the Princess Royal pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act after her pet bit two children in Windsor Great Park.