Prince Harry will likely have to sit for a four-day cross-examination at his NGN trial

Prince Harry’s trial against News Group Newspapers will happen in early 2025. The trial will not be a brief affair – there will likely be weeks of testimony and legal-bickering, and I’m a little bit worried that the trial will still be happening when Harry and Meghan arrive in Vancouver and Whistler for the Invictus Games on February 8. Obviously, Harry doesn’t have to physically be in court for the entire thing, but he will have to testify, and he will likely have to/want to testify in person rather than via Zoom or whatever. Well, NGN’s lawyers are trying to intimidate Harry, I think, and they’re saying that Harry will be under a microscopic cross-examination for days. Don’t threaten him with a good time!

The Duke of Sussex could face four days of “extensive” questioning in the High Court in his upcoming trial against the publisher of The Sun over allegations of unlawful information gathering. The Duke, 40, and former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson are bringing legal action against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which is set to head to trial in January 2025.

The Duke was also accused of trying to turn his legal battle into a public inquiry after he said last week he would never settle the case to achieve closure for the hundreds of thousands who had settled.

Anthony Hudson KC, for NGN, said 30 articles will be included in the trial in the Duke’s case and he would need to be questioned on each one. The barrister said Harry will be questioned about whether or not his claim should be dismissed because it was brought too late, adding: “That is going to require an extensive cross-examination of the Duke on actual and constructed knowledge.”

Mr Hudson continued: “If we said anything less than up to four days, we would be at risk of running out of time.”

David Sherborne, representing the Duke and Lord Watson, said the Duke had been questioned for only a day-and-a-half in his claim against Mirror Group Newspapers. He continued: “The idea that Mr Hudson could allow himself four days because he doesn’t want to feel rushed, that could apply to every witness.”

Mr Hudson KC also told the court the Duke’s comments in a New York Times interview last week proved he was trying to turn the case into a public inquiry. “It shows what’s really going on,” he said. “This is not about the trial of these individual claims, certainly not about the Duke’s. It’s about something very different. What it’s clearly about… it’s almost by definition a public inquiry.”

[From The Telegraph]

I genuinely wonder if the average British person understands what Harry is doing here and what he’s going up against, and how NGN and the British tabloids have run a high-level extortion scheme on hundreds of celebrities, royals and politicians. After all of this, after years of motions and hearings and threats and intimidation tactics, Prince Harry is still marching these f–kers to trial. I think he will be more than happy to be cross-examined for four days about all of this horses-t, if it comes to that.

Some NGN/Sun covers from the years where this case has been slow-walked to trial.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, The Sun.

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14 Responses to “Prince Harry will likely have to sit for a four-day cross-examination at his NGN trial”

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  1. Eurydice says:

    This will be so interesting. For years, they’ve thrown everything at Harry to hurt him and his family. I don’t think 4 days of cross-examination is going to phase him.

    • Beth says:

      It was just NGN wanting 4 days – it’s up to the judge, not NGN (‘could’ doing a lot of heavy lifting in this Torygraph piece, lol!). Btw, my understanding is that Harry will appear in court towards the end of February. As Invictus takes place from 8-16 February, there’s no clash.

  2. Hypocrisy says:

    This does come across as a threat, I think that Prince Harry scares them because he refuses to back down. I can’t wait to see what evidence is brought forth it isn’t going to be good for them at all. As for Prince Harry testifying, they should be the ones terrified because he is a man with a mission and money is not his priority in this lawsuit, the truth is and making it public.

  3. sevenblue says:

    lol. They said the same thing as a threat on his lawsuit against Mirror and he did a perfect job. Even the tabloids with an interest to make him look stupid couldn’t find anything to use against him from his cross-examination. We know that Harry is a smart man, his previous court records showed that. There is nothing he needs to be worried about since he isn’t the party who did (allegedly) criminal acts.

  4. Beverley says:

    Four days of Harry shining a spotlight on the British media’s fuckery? I’d watch if they live streamed that trial.

  5. Amy Bee says:

    The Mirror tried a similar tactic believing Harry wouldn’t want to take the stand. Harry wants his day in court and I’m sure he doesn’t mind being on the stand for 4 days.

    • Where'sMyTiara says:

      The more days he’s on the stand, the more days he can expose the rot in the system.

      They think this is intimidation.

      Nah. Harry’s sitting there saying “bring it, bishes”.

      The tabs really think he’s still the stupid spare they painted him to be. He was never stupid. And he’s a VIRGO. That man is ORGANIZED. He’s ready to systematically blow their legal intimidation to bits with facts and truth.

  6. wolfmamma says:

    Unlike Huevo, Harry is smart, experienced and articulate. He also has had years to prepare. He’s like a Shining Knight going against the dark forces and
    will stand in his own integrity.
    David and Goliath and we know how that turned out.

  7. Jais says:

    Technically don’t the findings in most civil cases go public? So aren’t all cases a form of public inquiry in a way? Boo-hoo for the Sun.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Jais, actually I would say a trial is not only very public, but all of the evidence gets made public. The Levinson inquiry certainly didn’t do that. Perhaps if they had actually held the second part it would have.

  8. YeahRight says:

    I’m sure Harry’s lawyers told him about this or possibility of this happening when they turned down whatever settlement was offered to them. I feel like he’s prepared for whatever they will try to throw at him. He knows they will use those questions to dig for dirt they can put in their tabs.

    • Beth says:

      Also, Harry and Sherborne know full well that the judge wasn’t ever going to allow the case to become an inquiry. What Harry did in NY was to put info out there and provoke NGN into a court response to what he said. Mission accomplished – the NY interview transcript was given to the judge by NGN, lol! So it’s now a matter of record in court and has a wider audience (there’d been little coverage re: what was said about Murdoch’s mob in the UK press). Harry’s not playing.

      • Where'sMyTiara says:

        My glee when the tabs fell for the rabbit snare Harry set in NY…

      • Saucy&Sassy says:

        Beth, okay, I laughed when I read your comment. Harry didn’t say anything that helps NGN. He gets an opportunity for a trial just let everyone else.