Prince Harry Was 'Very Pleased' After Historic Courtroom Grilling

Prince Harry felt "very pleased" after his grueling eight-hour session in the witness box of a London courtroom earlier this month and is "doing really well," according to a new interview given by one of the royal's close friends.

From June 6 to June 7, Harry made history by becoming the first senior royal in over 130 years to appear in the witness box to give evidence in a legal trial, during his ongoing lawsuit with a tabloid publisher over allegations that it illegally sourced stories about his personal life.

Harry's case against Britain's Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) was heard as part of a wider group of high-profile figures who have accused the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday People tabloids of wrongdoing.

The lawsuit against MGN is just one of a number being brought by the prince, who is also suing Associated Newspapers Limited (publisher of the Daily Mail) and News Group Newspapers (publisher of The Sun) for allegedly using unlawful information-gathering techniques such as phone hacking and blagging. The publishers have disputed the prince's claims.

He is joined in his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited by celebrity friends Sir Elton John, and his husband, David Furnish.

On Thursday, Furnish told Sky News that the prince was feeling positive about his cases and was doing well after the court testimony he provided in the MGN trial, which saw the royal face tough cross-examination by the publisher's legal counsel.

"He's fine, Harry's great," Furnish said of the prince after a period which has seen him face increased criticism in the press.

"I mean, he's taken a lot of flak in the media. And you have to remember, he's taking on the media. So, what actually happens in the courtroom and what you read about in the newspaper are often two very, very different things."

He continued: "We are in fairly regular contact and he was very pleased the way things went in court and he's doing pretty well."

Furnish's comments come as Harry revealed in his MGN witness statement that he was inspired to first bring his media lawsuits over historic phone hacking and unlawful information-gathering after spending a holiday with the producer and John in France.

When asked by MGN's lawyer when he first approached his media specialist attorney David Sherborne about filing the MGN lawsuit, Harry said he didn't seek them out, but: "I bumped into Mr. Sherborne in France."

He then told the court, per the Daily Telegraph: "It's in my book."

Harry recounted in his recently published record-breaking memoir, Spare, how Furnish and John had connected him with a lawyer who was extremely knowledgeable about phone hacking while on a vacation at their home with Meghan Markle in 2019.

"It was partially down to Elton and David," he wrote after writing that he had taken the decision in 2019 to privately sue tabloid publishers after meeting resistance when trying to do so through official channels in the royal household.

"At the end of our recent visit [to France] they'd introduced us to a barrister [attorney], an acquaintance of theirs, a lovely fellow who knew more about the phone-hacking scandal than anyone I'd ever met.

"He'd shared with me his expertise, plus loads of open-court evidence, and when I told him I wished there was something I could do with it, when I complained that we'd been blocked at every turn by the Palace, he offered a breathtakingly elegant work-around: 'Why not hire your own lawyer?'"

The lawyer is presumed to be Sherborne, a distinguished legal voice in Britain who is representing Harry across his media lawsuits.

Harry, John and Furnish have a long-lasting friendship which stretches back to the prince's childhood. The pop star was close to Princess Diana and performed a moving musical tribute at the royal's 1997 Westminster Abbey funeral service.

Since then, John has remained in touch with both Harry and his older brother Prince William. In 2018, the singer performed at Harry and Meghan's wedding reception and in 2019 made a public statement defending the royal couple against press and public criticism for using a private jet to travel to France after promoting environmental causes.

"I am deeply distressed by today's distorted and malicious account in the press surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's private stay at my home in Nice last week," he said.

"Prince Harry's mother, Diana Princess Of Wales, was one of my dearest friends. I feel a profound sense of obligation to protect Harry and his family from the unnecessary press intrusion that contributed to Diana's untimely death.

"After a hectic year continuing their hard work and dedication to charity, David and I wanted the young family to have a private holiday inside the safety and tranquillity of our home. To maintain a high level of much-needed protection, we provided them with a private jet flight."

He added that efforts had been made to offset the carbon created by the flight and continued: "I'm calling on the press to cease these relentless and untrue assassinations on their character that are spuriously crafted on an almost daily basis."

Harry's media lawsuits are ongoing.

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.