By Thanasis Gavou

THE Prince Harry will this week become the first member of the British royal family to testify in court. She is one of the celebrities who have filed a lawsuit against the publishing group MGN for tapping and monitoring their phones from 1996 to 2010.

The illegal acts are attributed to journalists of the group’s newspapers, namely the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People with the knowledge of the management. Among them is former friend but now fierce critic of the Sussex couple, Piers Morgan.

The main hearing begins today at a London court, where the Duke of Sussex is likely to appear in person. His own deposition is scheduled for Tuesday.

Prince Harry has pointed out 148 publications of the specific newspapers which argues that they cannot but rely on illegal sources. He claims that these publications and the way the information was obtained destroyed his personal relationships and caused him “general paranoia”.

Also plaintiffs are two actors, Michael Turner and Nikki Sanderson, as well as Fiona Wightman, ex-wife of actor Paul Wightman.

The trial is expected to last several weeks with Harry becoming the first member of the royal family to give evidence at a trial since 1891.

Then Prince Edward was called to testify in the context of a case involving a gambling scandal, but also to assure that he did not maintain an inappropriate relationship with a woman in an adultery case.

Her son’s involvement in court cases is said to have caused “anger and shame” to the then Queen Victoria.

The MGN Group denies the charges in the specific cases, although he has admitted to wiretapping in the past. In fact, he has already paid 100 million pounds as compensation to surveillance victims.

In the trial at hand, the legal defense of the group requests that the charges be dropped due to the passage of many years since the alleged offenses were committed.

The case is one of three similar cases involving Prince Harry. The other two relate to claims of wiretapping by the Daily Mail and Sun publishing groups. Court decisions are awaited as to whether these cases should also be tried.