Sky viewers have been left baffled after its report of Prince Harry’s evidence at a phone hacking trial in Lindon included a recreation with an actor playing the duke.
Harry became the first royal to testify in more than a century as he took to the witness box at the High Court in London earlier today.
As no cameras or recording equipment is permitted in court, Sky News has attempted to recreate proceedings as part of special coverage of the case.
Presenting the programme, Jonathan Samuels said: ‘There are no cameras and no recordings in court, so here on Sky News we will show you what the duke said, voiced by an actor.’
But viewers were left confused and poked fun at the unusual reporting, describing the recreation as ‘bizarre’ and ‘surreal’.
An actor played Prince Harry in a special report of the phone hacking trial in London earlier today
As no cameras or recording equipment is permitted in court, Sky News has attempted to recreate proceedings as part of special coverage of the case
Harry (pictured leaving the High Court) has alleged around 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by Mirror Group Newspapers contained information gathered using unlawful method
One said: ‘Well… this is weird. Could we not just have been provided with a transcript?’
Another added: ‘What a bizarre editorial decision.’
A third tweeted: ‘This is hilarious’.
Viewers also compared the prince’s appearance to that of David Platt, a character in Coronation Street played by Jack P. Shepherd.
One wrote: ‘Nice of David from Corrie to step up.’
Another said: ‘That’s David Platt off Coronation Street.’
It comes as Harry has alleged around 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by Mirror Group Newspapers contained information gathered using unlawful methods.
But Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), told the court that details in these stories actually came from other media outlets, including the BBC, as well as press releases, palace statements, the public domain, his aides and friends and even comments made by his mother Princess Diana.
The Duke of Sussex lambasted No 10 as part of his historic appearance and referred to Paul Burrell as a ‘two-face s***’.
Harry also admitted his memoir Spare contradicted a claim in his witness statement – and denied accusations his solicitors drafted evidence for him.
The Duke of Sussex said he could not remember whether he wanted to meet his mother’s former butler Paul Burrell, despite his opposition apparently causing a rift with his brother the Prince William, when asked about an article published in December 2003.
But Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), pointed to a discrepancy between Harry’s witness statement and the memoir.
In his witness statement, Harry said he ‘didn’t want to hear’ Mr Burrell’s reasons for selling some of Diana’s possessions and giving interviews about her, but he wrote in the memoir he wanted to fly home from his gap year job in the Australian outback to meet him.
The Duke of Sussex lambasted No 10 as part of his historic appearance and referred to Paul Burrell as a ‘two-face s***’ today
The fifth in line to the throne has become the first senior royal to give evidence in one of the Monarch’s courts in 132 years
It came as Harry today became the first royal to testify for more than a century as part of a phone hacking trial in which he alleges that around 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by Mirror Group Newspapers contained information gathered using unlawful methods.
In a day that contained a number of heated exchanges, Harry also tried to turn questions on a lawyer after the High Court was told a story subject to one of his complaints came from a royal press release.
Andrew Green KC, for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), told the royal: ‘I am here to cross-examine you, I am afraid that’s the way this works, Prince Harry.’
Harry has also suggested that King Charles may have had his voicemails intercepted when questioned on a Mirror article titled ‘Harry’s cocaine, ecstasy and GHB parties’, which claimed his father was ‘worried sick’ about his son.
The royal was then asked about whether his own drug use, an illegal act, was in the public interest when as a teenager he was then third in line to the throne. He is now fifth in line.
Suggesting he believed it was not, he said: ‘There’s a difference between public interest – and what interests the public’.
The fifth in line to the throne has become the first senior royal to give evidence in one of the Monarch’s courts in 132 years, as he sues the Mirror’s publisher for alleged hacking, which it denies.
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