How Prince Harry's Army Training Prepared Him For Witness Stand Grilling
Prince Harry's years of military training provided him with useful tactics in how to handle his high-stakes cross-examination on the witness stand in a London courtroom on Tuesday.
Harry attended the second day of the High Court trial concerning his phone-hacking lawsuit against prominent U.K. tabloid publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) on June 6, prepared to give evidence supporting his claim that information used to inform a sample of 33-stories written by MGN titles about him was obtained illegally.
Scheduled to last a day and a half, Harry's cross-examination was led by MGN legal council Andrew Green KC, noted for his thorough and investigative lines of inquiry.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday morning following the prince's arrival at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, Jack Royston, highlighted a point recently stated by Harry's ghostwriter about his ability to handle high pressure and high stakes situations.
"I was actually re-reading something Harry's ghostwriter J. R. Moehringer wrote for The New Yorker last night," he told anchor Kay Burley, "and he tells the story about how Harry was subjected, during his army training, to this mock torture where he was kind of pushed and punched around to test his psychological strength, and they threw in a dig at Princess Diana in the middle of it."
"Harry said that he came back with some kind of witty riposte that he wanted included in the book and Moehringer, insisted on taking it out. But it's quite interesting that he does have that kind of experience in his arsenal, you know, he has been put under psychological pressure for his army training, and he certainly seemed to come away feeling that he came out with his intellect, his actual kind of wit and intellectual capabilities, intact."
Moehringer worked with Harry over a number of years to help professionally craft the prince's record-breaking memoir which was published in January 2023, titled Spare. In it, Harry makes a number of revelations about his time spent in the armed forces, including his two tours of Afghanistan in 2007 and 2012.
One of the pieces of information included from this time which earned the prince a wave of backlash was the revelation that he considered himself to have been responsible for the deaths of 25 Taliban fighters while on active duty.
The prince stepped away from the army in 2015 and began undertaking royal duties full-time, many of which were concerned with veterans charities. Despite leaving the monarchy in 2020, he continues his work in this area through the Invictus Games.
Harry's lawsuit against MGN is not the only one of its kind the prince has taken versus the British tabloid press. He currently has suits ongoing against Associated Newspapers Limited (publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) as well as News Group Newspapers (publishers of The Sun).
The prince has applied for summary judgments in the other two cases, meaning he has asked a judge to grant him damages without the need to proceed to a full trial.
Since leaving the monarchy and moving to the U.S. with Meghan Markle, Harry has stated the desire to make it his life's work to hold the tabloid press to account for what he sees as their illegal activity and relentless pursuit of himself and his young family.
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.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jqGmsGWgp7avr8Rmn5qqoq56or7MsmStqpGeu6q6xmanq52glr%2BmsIywoK2mlajAbr%2FTmqWdZZentq24yKeeZmloZYF5fJA%3D