Key events
Prince Harry is about to enter the witness box to give evidence, becoming the first senior royal to be cross-examined in court since the 19th century.
Jim Waterson
Prince Harry has entered the courtroom, shaking hands with members of his legal team including former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris, who now works on phone hacking cases.
Jim Waterson
I’m inside Court 15 at the Rolls Building in central London, where Prince Harry is about to become the first senior royal to be cross-examined in court since 1891.
It’s almost four years since Prince Harry started his phone hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers. And today he finally gets to put forward their side of the story, in his own words, under oath.
It could be brutal. Other individuals who have already given evidence in this trial have been visibly shaken by the experience of being cross-examined.
Harry will argue that journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and People hacked his voicemails and illegally used private investigators to obtain stories about him and his relationships.
The Mirror’s barrister, Andrew Green KC, will do his best to undermine Harry and cast doubt on both the prince’s evidence and his motive for bringing the claims. Harry will have to remain calm for two days of cross-examination, with every one of his allegations picked apart.
Dozens of television crews and photographers from around the world have gathered outside the Rolls Building in central London. Harry said he brought the case in order to draw attention to alleged wrongdoing in the British media. Now, with the world watching – and no lawyer telling him what to say – he’s got to make his case.
Prince Harry might be bracing himself for a light rap on the knuckles from the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, who expressed frustration on Monday that the duke was not in court in person.
The Duke’s barrister, David Sherborne, explained that Harry was not in court on Monday because he had been in Los Angeles until late Sunday to celebrate his daughter’s second birthday party.
Mr Justice Fancourt said he was “a little surprised” to hear the duke would not be attending court on Monday.
The judge said he gave a direction earlier in the trial that witnesses should be available the day before their evidence was due to be heard in case the legal teams’ opening speeches ran short.
Harry’s no-show made a couple of the newspapers’ front pages this morning.
Whether the judge raises it again with the duke, we’ll have to wait and see.
Prince Harry arrives at the high court
The Duke of Sussex has arrived at the High Court to give evidence in his case against the Daily Mirror’s publisher over alleged unlawful information gathering.
Prince Harry arrived in a black Range Rover, which pulled in quickly outside the Rolls Building in central London. Dressed in a dark suit, the duke walked straight into the court, passing the pack of photographers and other media waiting outside.
On Monday, Harry’s individual case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) got under way.
He is suing the publisher, 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.
His barrister David Sherborne claimed the duke was subjected to unlawful information-gathering activity “right from when he was a young boy at school” into adulthood, adding: “Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds.”
Andrew Green KC, acting for MGN, said there was no evidence that hacking of Harry’s phone took place. “Zilch, zero, nil, de nada, niente, nothing,” he said.
