Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have worked hard to exhaust every venue, from podcast, to autobiography, to Netflix in their efforts to define themselves as victims and to defame the royal family. On Tuesday, the prince tried a new one: a British courtroom.
They are a couple who take themselves deadly seriously, but previously have been able to set some rules and choose sympathetic (and less than rigorous) interviewers. This drama is different because it subjects their claims to disciplined legal examination in an environment that they cannot control.
It's likely to be a whole lot more grueling under examination by "a beast in court." That’s how Andrew Green KC (or King’s Counsel) has been described in UK attorney ranking, "Legal500" Look out now for a new level of humiliation.
Harry's claim is that a series of articles written between 1996 and 2010 by the Mirror Group included unlawful information-gathering practices, most notably, phone hacking.
Things haven't started well in his efforts to substantiate that. Already, on day one, the embattled prince outdid himself, admitting contradictions between his memoir and his evidence.
In his pursuit of victimhood and further attention, he got more than he bargained for.
Harry is proving the rule observed by the royal family that keeping out of politics and courtroom is by far the safest approach. This has always made good practical sense, allowing the public to feel that the monarch might not differ from their point of view.
Victorian-era prime minister Benjamin Disraeli is said to have coined the phrase "never complain, never explain," that succinctly describes the late queen's approach. Would that her grandson could understand the good sense in it.
In similar vein, the royal family has gone out of its way to avoid the inside of courtrooms. The last time a member of the close family gave evidence was over 130 years ago when Queen Victoria’s son (subsequently Edward VII) was drawn into an illegal gambling scandal.
It was reported that in this court case, "the sight of the heir to the throne being cross-examined caused substantial damage to the future king’s reputation — and royal courtiers with long memories have since done their best to keep royals out of the courtroom."
Prince Harry and his wife’s calculating attempts to cause reputational damage to his family have backfired consistently. If he had avoided this path, it might have spared him further negative scrutiny.
Things started off with a bang Monday as the trial judge, Justice Timothy Fancourt expressed dismay and "a little surprise," that Harry chose to skip the first day’s proceedings entirely, allegedly delayed by daughter Lilibet’s birthday.
When the star witness finally arrived Tuesday, his testimony defamed his whole nation: "Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government — both of which I believe are at rock bottom. Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinize and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo."
These words are particularly shocking, coming from a prince whose ancestral line has striven for over 1,000 years to uphold and champion the nation it has served.
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Harry emerged from the proceedings, battered and on the defensive. In the course of the questioning, he had to admit, not only that he had sparse evidence to back up his claims, but that some of his court allegations contradicted what he expressed in his autobiography, "Spare."
Oprah had been a pushover in her 2021 interview of the Sussexes compared to Green. By pursuing this litigation Harry inherited a far-less forgiving inquisitor.
Harry and Meghan never disappoint when it comes to courting trouble. They have complained about suffering endlessly from media intrusion. But, that’s exactly what they have done to Harry’s family.
To make it even more unfair, Harry Is free to pursue legal action because he withdrew from royal life, while the family he sold personal information about cannot defend themselves.
Much has been lampooned by the likes of "South Park" and Chris Rock, but in the end, we are witnessing the tragedy of a deeply unhappy troubled man who blames everyone but himself for his failures owing to his own bad decisions.
