Prince Harry and his co-plaintiffs’ trial against The Mail/ANL is not going the way people expected. It’s not bad news for Harry at all – it actually looks like ANL is trying and failing at a strategy of centering Harry in the lawsuit and trying to smear him in open court. That didn’t work on Wednesday, because Harry took the stand and combated ANL’s lies in his voice. ANL tried to pull a fast one by giving an abbreviated opening statement on Tuesday then demanding that Harry be called to the stand one day early. There was also an understanding that ANL’s cross-examination of Harry was supposed to last a full day, maybe two days. Instead, ANL’s lawyer only cross-examined Harry for about two hours, and they didn’t even ask him about the majority of the articles cited in his lawsuit. After that cross-examination, Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne asked him questions and Harry spoke about the toll this lawsuit has taken on him and on Meghan. He correctly stated that after he first sued ANL in 2019, the Mail went all-in with the degrading, racist, cruel, dehumanizing “reporting” about him and Meghan. From the Royalist Substack, who was in the courtroom:
Prince Harry’s day in the witness box began unsteadily. Associated Newspapers brought forward his evidence by a day after taking less time than expected to outline their case, a move that appeared to unsettle him. From the outset, he was defensive and combative, repeatedly bristling under questioning from ANL’s barrister, Antony White KC. The judge intervened several times to urge Harry to remain calm and not to argue with counsel.
White focused heavily on Harry’s 13-page witness statement, released publicly as he was sworn in. Early in the questioning, White asked why Harry had not complained about the articles at the time they were published. Harry replied that he was constrained by his position within the royal institution, citing the maxim “never complain, never explain.”
The morning session did little to improve Harry’s composure. He snapped at suggestions put to him, took offence easily, and at one point conceded that he was upset. Tensions rose further when White suggested Harry had a “good relationship” with Daily Mail royal correspondent Rebecca English. Harry openly scoffed, showing visible contempt, particularly when discussing an article she wrote claiming he and Prince William had held emotional discussions over Italian media publishing photographs of Princess Diana shortly before her death. He described the claim as “really disgusting”.
Harry also repeatedly referred to Associated Newspapers as “creepy” in relation to their reporting on his former girlfriend, Chelsy Davy.
A significant strand of his case centres on the credibility of royal reporters, particularly Katie Nicholl, now royal editor of Vanity Fair. Harry strongly rejected any suggestion that he was friendly with Nicholl, telling the court she was not part of his social circle and merely appeared at events attended by his friends. When White suggested Nicholl had obtained information legitimately from a source speaking on the record, Harry became embroiled in a tense exchange with the judge, who cautioned him against trying to argue his entire case from the witness box and reminded him that his lawyers, not he, would make the legal arguments.
After the lunch adjournment, Harry appeared calmer and more controlled. The afternoon session focused largely on timelines, with White seeking to establish that Harry had sufficient knowledge years ago to bring complaints earlier, raising potential limitation issues. Harry responded that, given the “institution” he was then part of, complaining would not have been “acceptable, or even an option”.
There was also discussion of an email Harry sent after a wedding planner connected to his 2018 marriage was burgled, in which he said he could “guarantee” the incident was linked to the Sun or the Daily Mail. White suggested this showed Harry believed unlawful activity was taking place at the time, but Harry made it clear it was a flippant remark and the blow did not land. White’s cross-examination then ended abruptly.
Harry’s barrister, David Sherborne, began his re-examination by returning to the roles of Katie Nicholl and Rebecca English, underlining Harry’s case that they were central figures in the alleged wrongdoing. Harry at one stage said: “If Ms Nicholl’s contacts (with my friends) were so good, why did she have to rely on Unlawful Information Gathering?”
Asked how the experience made him feel, Harry said it was “not great”, describing it as “a repeat of the past, a recurring and traumatic experience.” He said his life had been commercialised since he was a teenager and that he had never believed it should be treated as “open season.”
The emotional climax came when Harry was asked how he felt about Associated Newspapers’ conduct during the litigation. He said matters had “got worse, not better”, adding that all he had sought was an apology and accountability. He described the process as “a horrible experience” and said that by taking a stand in court, the media had continued to target him, making his wife’s life “an absolute misery.” As he spoke the word “misery”, his voice cracked and he lowered his head. Sherborne then told the court he had no further questions.
A spokesman for Prince Harry said: “Today’s cross-examination was revealing in its weakness: assertive in tone, but collapsing immediately under scrutiny from Prince Harry. Associated couldn’t wait to get him off the stand, questioning him for just 2 hours and avoiding 10 of his 14 articles entirely.” Prince Harry said afterwards, “Today we reminded the Mail Group who is on trial and why.”
What’s increasingly hard to believe is… how is ANL going to stretch this out for another eight or nine weeks? That’s how long the trial was supposed to be, only after six-plus years, it looks like ANL is largely capitulating. Is this all they have? “Why didn’t you hang out with Katie Nicholl in 2006??” Did they expect Harry to clam up and not fight back when they tried to push lies about how he was super-tight with Becky English and Katie Nicholl? The British live-blogs of Harry’s testimony were all clutching their pearls as well, like, oh, the judge had to tell Harry to stop arguing with the ANL lawyer! It was cracking me up – that ginger prince wasn’t going to let those snide asides and sneaky lies slip by. And after all of that, he walked out of court with his shoulders back, his head held high and his Freedom Strut intact. His mother would be so proud of him.
Thank you!
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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
