Prince Harry Could Mention William, Kate and Diana on Witness Stand

Prince Harry could reveal information about Prince William, Kate Middleton and Princess Diana when he gives evidence in a London court on Tuesday, as the first senior royal to do so for over 130 years.

Harry is suing tabloid publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over allegations of unlawful information gathering—including phone hacking—to inform stories written about him between 1996 and 2011.

The prince's claim was among a number of lawsuits that high profile figures filed against the publisher, and it was included in a sample of four to be taken to trial.

The royal was expected to make an appearance at the trial's opening day held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday, but he was absent having arrived in London late on Sunday after celebrating his daughter, Princess Lilibet's, second birthday at the family home in California.

The last senior royal to give evidence at a legal trial was King Edward VII, Harry's great-great-great-grandfather, a few years before he became king in 1891. Speaking to Sky News on Monday, Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, Jack Royston, highlighted that Harry might not be the only member of the monarchy to be referenced during the trial.

Asked by Sky News anchor Kay Burley what the court can expect from Harry's historic testimony, Royston suggested: "He's going to say that the newspapers caused him paranoia, that they caused him to cut friends off," and "damaged his social connections and his personal life."

He also noted that the prince's mother, Princess Diana, could be a focus of some of her son's witness statement.

"A number of the people who he's actually saying were hacked in order to get his private information were actually associated with Diana," Royston said. "Including her boyfriend after the collapse of her relationship with [King] Charles."

The boyfriend in question was Pakistan-born heart surgeon Hasnat Khan. Diana met Khan during a visit to a London hospital to visit a friend and the couple dated between 1995 and 1997. The relationship ended just weeks before the royal's untimely death at the age of 36 from injuries sustained in a high-speed Paris car crash.

Khan and Diana's relationship was dramatized in the most recent season of Netflix's royal drama series, The Crown. The princess was portrayed by actress Elizabeth Debicki and Khan by Humayun Saeed.

Charles and Diana "could both be mentioned" by Harry on the witness stand on Tuesday, according to Royston, in addition to his brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The prince's relationship with William and Kate has been pulled into public focus in recent months following a reported royal rift that was confirmed by Harry in his 2022 six-part docuseries and blockbuster memoir earlier this year.

Both referenced in preliminary court filings, Royston explained: "Kate Middleton is mentioned in some of [Harry's lawyer's] paperwork as well as having been a potential target [for the tabloids]."

Harry's task on the stand will be to justify the claims made in his lawsuit. "One thing Harry will have to do is to show why he thinks that these people were hacked in order to get his private information," Royston told Burley. "He'll have to try and connect the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.

"These stories were published. He doesn't know where they came from. He alleges they're from phone hacking, he has some call records to people who are associates of his or within his circle, he has to try and marry those two things together and say that 'these call records are the reason that this story appeared.'"

Harry's lawsuit against MGN is just one of his ongoing legal actions against tabloid publishers in Britain. The prince is also suing Associated Newspapers Limited over stories he alleges used illegally sourced information in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Separately, he is suing News Group Newspapers over stories published in the Daily Mirror and Sunday People titles.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.