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Prince Harry’s fresh courtroom drama is bound to broaden the gulf between him and King Charles and Prince William, palace sources told Page Six.
The renegade prince has flown to London to take the stand in the Daily Mirror hacking case — making him the first royal ever to give evidence in the witness box.
Asked what his estranged family must make of Harry’s participation in the case, one highly placed palace source said: “I can’t imagine anyone is pleased,” adding they will be “privately bracing themselves.”
Another royal insider said: “Harry would see himself as fighting their battle too, to protect the reputation of the monarchy.
“But certainly, they [the royal family] avoid confrontation with the media in most instances. And litigation is so lengthy. stressful and unpredictable, not to mention expensive.
“You just have no idea what direction the other side is going to go in on, and what they will dredge up.”
Lawyer Andrew Green KC, representing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), has already told the court that many of the stories published about Harry “came from information disclosed by or on behalf of royal households or members of the royal family.”
“There’s a damn good reason why the royal family should feel uncomfortable about this,” added the royal insider.
Harry has already been slammed by the judge for failing to turn up for the first day of the trial Monday, as he was busy celebrating his daughter, Princess Lilibet’s 2nd birthday, with wife Meghan Markle and son Prince Archie on Sunday in California.
“I’m a little surprised,” a visibly annoyed Justice Timothy Fancourt said, noting he had directed Harry to be in court for the first day of his case.
Harry, 38, arrived in London on a commercial flight early Monday morning after enjoying a low-key family day, Page Six is told, but was never actually due to give evidence until Tuesday. He will stay in the UK for a few days.
Noted writer and historian Hugo Vickers pointed out that unlike in his interviews with friends like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Bradby, Harry will have to answer any and all questions while under oath.
“It turns it into another circus,” Vickers told Page Six. “He’s got time to come over [to England] and cause trouble, but he doesn’t have time to see his family and try to sort out any of the big issues.
“He’s also subjecting himself to the possibility of an aggressive council to ask him a lot of disagreeable questions he is obliged to answer, putting himself on the line.”
Charles, meanwhile, is not currently in the UK to see his son as he’s on a walking tour of Romania, near his Transylvania retreat, while Queen Camilla is at her country hideaway.
Harry will testify in in the first of five pending legal cases against UK tabloids accused of hacking his phone and invading his privacy. The first trial is aimed at the Mirror Group and 33 of 150 stories it published between 1995 and 2011, with Harry claiming the stories were produced using information from his phone and other illegal methods, including hiring at least 25 different private investigators to spy on him.
He is joined in the lawsuit against the Mirror Group by “Coronation Street” soap opera actors Nikki Sanderson and Michael Turner, and comedian Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife, Fiona Wightman.
The Mirror Group has denied any involvement.
Prince Harry’s rep was unavailable for comment.
Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said Monday that the prince’s relationship with his brother, William, started to “erode” because of unlawful information gathering.
He claimed “mistrust” between the brothers may have been sowed as far back as 2003 when Mirror Group Newspapers published a story about an alleged disagreement between them.
Sherborne alleged the a story, published in December that year, centered on a reported dispute between the Princes over whether to meet former royal butler Paul Burrell, who they had publicly accused of betraying their late mother, Princess Diana.