Today marks the first day of Prince Harry’s trial against News Group Newspapers at the High Court in London, however the Duke of Sussex will reportedly not be at the opening of the proceedings

Prince Harry’s latest legal battle is set to go to trial today – but he will not be returning to the UK for the first day, it has been claimed.

The Duke of Sussex is due to give evidence at the High Court trial against News Group Newspapers, which is expected to last around seven weeks. Harry and former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson are suing NGN, publisher of The Sun, over alleged unlawful information-gathering and invasion of privacy.

But despite the trial starting today, it has been reported that Harry has not travelled from his home in California for the opening day.

Harry is expected back in the UK for the trial in February ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
According to the Hello!, he is instead expected to be in London to attend the High Court trial early next month when he will give evidence in the proceedings. It comes after it was reported that Harry will be given “limited police protection” when he comes to the UK after losing his legal battle for taxpayer-funded security.

The Duke lost a legal challenge last year over his protection when in the UK. He contested a decision to downgrade his security status when he stopped being a working royal. Harry is no longer automatically provided with the same level of police protection given to the Royal Family when he stepped back from the role and moved to the US.

The opening of the trial also comes as Harry and wife Meghan Markle have reportedly dismissed a string of bombshell claims made against them in a blistering magazine article.

Vanity Fair, a glossy US magazine which traditionally favours the Sussexes, has published a cover article about the couple for its latest issue, cryptically headlined ‘American Hustle’. It delves into Harry and Meghan’s lives five years since they decided to quit as working royals, and the allegations have sent shockwaves across the internet.

Harry and wife Meghan are the subject of a scathing Vanity Fair cover story ( 
Image:
PA)
The damning piece contains more troubling claims about what it’s allegedly like to work for the couple. These follow previous bullying accusations against Meghan, which she has always strenuously denied. Vanity Fair quotes insiders as claiming Meghan could be “really, really awful” when things did not go her way at work and that things often went poorly due to the couple’s ‘demands’.

The article also has sources who are said to be neighbours of the couple in Montecito, saying they were ‘entitled’ and ‘disingenuous’. But according to The Times, the Sussexes have dismissed the allegations with a source close to them describing them as ‘distressing’.

Those close to Harry and Meghan also reportedly point to comments made by actress Sharon Stone when they first moved to Montecito back in 2020, who said that the couple would wave to people in the street and had become a “giving, caring, participating part of our community.”

Among the other claims made in the Vanity Fair article is that Harry underestimated the impact his explosive memoir Spare would have on relations with his family, that Meghan has ‘re-parented’ Harry and that the couple lacked ideas when it came to their Netflix and Spotify deals.

The article in the magazine comes just months after a piece in the Hollywood Reporter claimed Meghan had been labelled ‘Duchess Difficult’. However, in the days after the piece, current and former employees of the Sussexes spoke out in defence of working for Meghan in US Weekly magazine.