Harry takes on Murdoch’s UK tabloids

LONDON: Prince Harry will get his long-awaited day in court against Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids Monday, as his lawsuit against News Group Newspapers for unlawful gathering of private information finally goes on trial in London.
Harry is not expected to take the stand for at least the first two weeks of the trial, which will be devoted to “generic issues” relating to the practices of the papers from the 1990s to the early 2010s, when lawyers say their reporters routinely hacked the prince’s cellphone and those of other celebrities.
The hearings could nonetheless prove damaging to Murdoch and several of his former lieutenants. Lawyers for Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, will set out to show that the News Group executives concealed and sought to destroy evidence of hacking and other improper practices.
Harry is one of only two plaintiffs left from an original group of 40; the rest, including actor Hugh Grant, have settled. The other plaintiff, also scheduled to take the stand, is Tom Watson, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party, who alleges that News Group hacked his phone and targeted him for political reasons.