Prince Harry’s long journey to the high court witness box began with a chance encounter with the lawyer David Sherborne at a party hosted by Elton John in France. It ended with an occasionally emotional eight hours of cross-examination that broke royal protocol, set a precedent and laid bare the level of tabloid intrusion that Harry says he has endured throughout his life.
The prince said he first “bumped into” Sherborne in 2018, where he vented to his fellow party guest about the way British newspapers were reporting on his new wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
At the time Harry was still an active member of the royal family, who maintained a longstanding policy of “never complain, never explain” when it came to dealing with the media.
Harry told Sherborne he was concerned about “the abuse, intrusion and hate that was coming towards me and my wife”, the high court heard on Wednesday. The prince and the barrister discussed whether there was “any way to find a different course of action” without relying on the softly-softly approach of the royal household.
By this point Harry had already publicly accused the British media of racism, warned they were repeating the mistakes that led to the death of his mother, and was privately demanding Rupert Murdoch’s media group apologise to him for hacking his phone. But, in his eyes, none of it was having an effect.
The perma-tanned Sherborne, known for his verbal flourishes and willingness to be photographed outside court, was already a veteran media barrister who became a public name due to his role in the Leveson inquiry into media ethics in 2011. He would later act as Coleen Rooney’s lawyer in the Wagatha Christie libel case, where he delighted in cross-examining Rebekah Vardy, and was later portrayed by the actor Michael Sheen in a Channel 4 drama about the case. But at this point he was deep in phone hacking legal cases against British newspapers, which were receiving limited attention.
Harry had not considered filing a legal case against Mirror Group Newspapers until he was told by Sherborne he could have a claim for phone hacking and other offences.
In court on Wednesday, the Mirror’s barrister seized on this as evidence that it “wasn’t concern over any particular article” that prompted the prince to hire his own solicitors.
Harry confirmed that this was the case, because all the evidence was held by the palace and, in any case, he “wouldn’t have been allowed” to make a complaint.
Legal proceedings were filed in 2019, with Harry just one of more than 100 claimants alleging they were the victims of phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers. Eventually the prince’s claim was picked as one of four claims that would be tested at a trial, which has captured global media attention over the past month.
Giving evidence in the trial required Harry to be cross-examined, opening him up to probing questions about his background. On Tuesday morning hundreds of journalists, photographers, and television crews stood outside the Rolls Building in central London to greet the prince, who had flown in from California for his turn.
Inside the building a television played footage on repeat of Queen Elizabeth II opening the building in 2011. Upstairs, her grandson became the first royal to give evidence in a court case in 130 years.
Earlier in the trial the Mirror’s barrister, Andrew Green KC, had left some witnesses appealing to the judge about the line of questioning.
Green chose to be more deferential towards the prince but he consistently worked to undermine Harry’s case. He suggested Harry was conflating the actions of reporters at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World with the actions of Mirror journalists.
Harry remained calm and had a good grasp of the underlying material – even if some of his answers sometimes appeared to contradict his own autobiography, Spare. He responded to criticism that he did not have key documents or call logs to back up his allegations of phone hacking by repeating: “I believe there is hard evidence.”
The modern courtroom has been described as “Ikea style”, with pine tables and bright lights rather than dusty Victorian windows. With no cameras present, the time spent analysing tabloid articles about Harry’s life could drag, with the prince occasionally displaying flashes of passion when he was particularly aggrieved by a news story – such as one about his relationship with the late TV presenter Caroline Flack.
Eventually, after eight hours in the witness box, Sherborne concluded the re-examination of his client with an open question: “Finally, Prince Harry, you have been in that witness box for over a day and a half. You have had to go through these articles and answer questions knowing this is a very public courtroom and the world’s media are watching, how has that made you feel?”
Harry replied, emotionally: “It’s a lot.”
