Good morning. This week, Prince Harry will make another unprecedented move for a senior royal, as he gives evidence in a phone hacking court case against Mirror Group Newspapers, the owner of the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People. The lawsuit alleges that the company unlawfully gathered information on the prince between 1996 and 2011 that was published in its papers, and that senior executives and editors were aware of this activity. This lawsuit is one of three entirely separate but concurrent phone hacking claims that Prince Harry is making: the other two are against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, and the Mail newspapers.
While he is one of the most high profile players in the lawsuit, Harry is not the only claimant. More than 100 other people are suing the Mirror Group, including ex-footballer and TV presenter Ian Wright, Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole, and the estate of the late singer George Michael. (The Mirror Group has steadfastly denied the allegations, adding that the claimants have waited too long to sue them.)
Even so, the prince’s case seems particularly notable; after years of being hounded and splashed across the front pages with humiliating headlines, it seems Harry is committed in his crusade against the media, whom he blames for the death of his mother and his fraught relationship with his family.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Guardian media editor Jim Waterson about why this case is so significant. That’s right after the headlines.
Five big stories
Brazil | Police have charged the alleged leader of a “transnational criminal organisation” with being the mastermind of the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira in the Amazon one year ago. A supposed subordinate was also charged.
Coronavirus | The Trades Union Congress has claimed that years of austerity administered by David Cameron and George Osborne left Britain “hugely unprepared” for Covid, with consequences that were “painful and tragic”.
Afghanistan | A local education official has said that nearly 80 girls were poisoned and hospitalised in two separate attacks at their primary schools in northern Afghanistan. He added that the person who orchestrated the poisoning is believed to have had a personal grudge but did not elaborate further.
Society | For the first time, a universal basic income of £1,600 a month will be trialled in central Jarrow, in north-east England, and East Finchley, in north London. The pilot programme will include thirty people who will be paid a lump sum without conditions each month for two years, and will be observed to understand the effects on their lives.
UK news | A 17-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl who died after getting into difficulty in the water off Bournemouth beach last week have been named as Joe Abbess and Sunnah Khan. Abbess was described by his family as “kind and generous, loving and caring, hardworking and funny”, while more than 200 people attended Khan’s funeral at the Central Mosque in High Wycombe.
In depth: ‘He’s willing to take the punches – he sees this as his way of getting justice’
Keeping up with all of Harry’s legal proceedings against the tabloids can be a dizzying affair. But this is different:giving evidence in a court of law deviates significantly from the royal family’s approach to public life. The Duke of Sussex is thought to be the first royal to give evidence in a trial since the late 19th century – and being in the witness box means that he has opened himself up to aggressive cross-examination. (This is not the same as “taking the stand”, Jim points out, an American-ism that does not exist in the British court system.)
“The royals have always done their best to keep out of the court system in case it becomes a bit unpalatable and unpleasant for them, and reveals things that they don’t want revealed,” Jim explains. “But Harry has adopted a sort of, ‘I don’t care any more’ attitude.”
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The risks
There is a lot on the line here for the prince: he could lose a lot of money in legal fees if he has not signed a “no win no fee” agreement with his legal team, and British newspapers will probably pillory him further if the verdict does not come out in his favour. But, like all court cases, this is a “calculated risk” that Harry is taking. “He feels that the British press, particularly the tabloids, have wronged him, his mother and those around him. And he wants to do something,” Jim says. Even if he does not win the court cases, publicly dragging the Mirror group through the courts and forcing them to spend eye-watering sums on lawyers could be a way to make them feel the burn. “The impression I get is that he’s an angry, wounded guy and he can’t take it any more,” Jim says. “He’s willing to take the punches and do this, because he sees this as his way of getting justice.”
A loss for Harry could happen in two ways. Firstly, the Mirror Group argues that most of the articles he is pointing to were sourced through tips, so a judge could rule that his phone was not hacked. The fallback defence may be that he simply filed his paperwork too late. The general rule is that victims have six years from a wrongdoing or when they knew about it to start a case in the civil court system, Jim says, “so the judge could say it’s almost irrelevant whether they did it, because you simply missed a deadline”.
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What if it all pays off?
The best outcome for the prince would be that the court decided that his phone was indeed hacked by the Mirror Group, and that individuals – some of whom still occupy senior positions in the press – were aware that this was happening. Ideally, at least some of these people would be held accountable. A win like this would be a huge blow to the publisher.
For the past seven years, the Mirror Group have been able to settle phone hacking cases out of court. If the judge rules against Prince Harry, many of the outstanding claims may be dropped and this could draw a line under this messy, expensive, embarrassing and damaging saga for the company.
“But if a judge rules in favour, and effectively says a lot of people still don’t know that they’ve been victims, this could roll on for many years to come,” Jim says. The Mirror Group has already paid £100m to settle hundreds of phone-hacking claims and legal fees at its titles over the past decade, during a time when the newspaper business is in a terrible financial state. A big payout, however nice, is unlikely to be the main motivation for Harry, though. “This isn’t just about phone hacking,” he previously said in reference to his case against Murdoch’s papers. “This is about accountability of power”.
What else we’ve been reading
British Vogue’s interview with Isabel Allende (pictured above) considers both the novelist’s glamorous life and the harsh reality of life for refugee children, a topic which has inspired her latest work. Hannah J Davies, deputy editor, newsletters
Nesrine Malik’s column on how “corpspeak” has permeated British political language is a fascinating insight into how corporate language has found its way into both Labour and the Conservative party. “Corpspeak has taken over not because politicians are hiding something, but because they have nothing to say,” Malik writes. Nimo
A toxic man’s fantasy?: ICYMI, Shaad D’Souza asks whether the new Lily-Rose Depp/The Weeknd series The Idol, which debuts on UK screens tonight, is the most controversial TV show of 2023. Hannah
Eva Wiseman writes about how small young people’s dreams have become, with fantasies of owning mansions giving way to hopes of being able to rent a halfway decent home. Nimo
Zoe Williams’s lovely interview with TV property expert Sarah Beeny goes beyond her seemingly idyllic on-screen life to discuss her experience with breast cancer. Hannah
Sport
Tennis | Novak Djokovic is through to the French Open quarter-finals after comfortably beating Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3 6-2 6-2, bringing him closer to a 23rd grand slam title. Carlos Alcaraz also moved through to the next round after defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Football | Tottenham Hotspur are close to ending their search for a manager, as the club are reportedly set to hiring Ange Postecoglou as their new head coach. The north London club however could soon have to deal with Real Madrid looking to replace Karim Benzema with Harry Kane.
Golf | Rose Zhang became the first player to win on their pro LPGA Tour debut in 72 years, capturing the Mizuho Americas Open on the second hole of a playoff against Jennifer Kupcho on Sunday.
The front pages
The Covid postmortems continue across some front pages on Monday. The Guardian reports “Tory austerity left Britain ‘hugely unprepared’ for Covid, say Unions”. The Telegraph claims “Lockdown benefits ‘a drop in the bucket compared to the costs’”.
Elsewhere the Mail says there is a “Record demand for 35-year mortgages as rates keep rising”. The Times reports “Unions lambast Labour over ‘naive’ energy plan”. The Mirror claims a “tuberculosis pandemic could hit the UK”, under the headline “Act now to stop TB horror”.
The Financial Times leads with “Saudi Arabia seeks to boost oil price with output cut of 1mn barrels a day”. The i says “‘Generation AI’ most fearful of losing their jobs to robots”. Finally, the Sun leads with Holly Willoughby returning to This Morning with “Phil: I won’t watch Holly”.
Today in Focus
Our critics’ guide to a summer of music, movies and culture
With festival season about to begin, blockbusters scheduled for the big screen and newspapers filling up with lists of summer reading, the Guardian culture writers Alex Needham, Ellen E Jones and Michael Cragg take Nosheen Iqbal on a guided tour of the summer.
Cartoon of the day | Edith Pritchett
Sign up for Inside Saturday to see more of Edith Pritchett’s cartoons, the best Saturday magazine content and an exclusive look behind the scenes
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Gladys McGarey – the subject of this week’s “A new start after 60” column – was devastated when her husband and business partner Bill asked for a divorce after 46 years of marriage, when she was 70. “It blindsided me. I was broken,” says McGarey, a doctor.
However, she found a new zeal for life in her 90s. Despite retiring at 86, she continues to provide telephone consultations, has delivered a Ted talk – and has now written a book. “After the divorce, it was no longer Bill and Gladys, it was Gladys McGarey MD,” she says. “I reclaimed what I had, not just as Bill’s partner”.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
