Prince Harry made a stunning appearance at London’s High Court on Monday for the first hearing of a lawsuit accusing the publisher of the British newspaper The Guardian. daily Mail Telephone wiretapping and privacy breaches.
The Duke of Sussex has brought the lawsuit along with other celebrities including Elton John and actress Elizabeth Hurley against Associated Newspapers, but no one expected the semi-retired monarch to appear at London’s Central Court in person.
Monday’s hearing will consider the case’s initial legal arguments and the judge will then decide whether the case can move forward. The media company denies the allegations.
Harry, one of seven plaintiffs in the case, says he and others were victims of “abhorrent criminal activity” and “gross breaches of privacy.” The group announced last October that it was filing a legal case against Associated Newspapers for misuse of private information.
At the time, the Hamlins law firm — which represents the Duke of Sussex and actress Sadie Frost — alleged that the media giant’s activities included hiring private investigators to “secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes,” snooping into private phone calls, paying police officials for sensitive information, and “impersonating individuals to obtain medical information”.
Full details of the claims are not yet available to the public. But the Associated Newspapers has called the allegations “preposterous distortions” and will try to have the case thrown out over four days of hearings in the English capital.
Despite his unexpected presence in London, Prince Harry will not be meeting his father, King Charles, or brother, Prince William, while in England this week, with sources in both camps telling The Daily Beast they are too busy to make time to see him.
William and Kate’s children were on the first day of their school holidays for Easter Monday and the family was not in Windsor, where Harry is believed to be staying at his home Frogmore Cottage, which is soon due to be vacated on the king’s orders.
It was also believed that the King was not in London or Windsor, with suggestions that he had withdrawn to his country estate, Highgrove, after an official visit to France was canceled at the last minute due to street riots there.
The apparent lack of enthusiasm by the royals for meeting Harry would crush any lingering hopes he might have had of his family sitting down for face-to-face talks with him before the coronation.
Harry said he wanted such talks as a condition of attending the coronation, and also said he wanted an “apology to my wife” for the bad way they allegedly treated her when they were working members of the royal family.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper to promote his memoirs additional He said: “The ball is very much in their court, but you know, Meghan and I have kept saying we will publicly apologize for any wrongdoing we made… There needs to be a constructive conversation, one that can happen in private that doesn’t get leaked.”
Reliable sources have always told The Daily Beast, however, that the royals don’t think they have anything to apologize for and wouldn’t make such a gesture.