Harry’s absence not top news item on day one of the Mirror’s hacking trial

I’m third in line outside the High Court in London, choppers overhead, when word comes down that Prince Harry won’t show. Day one of the Daily Mirror phone-hacking trial and predictably the resulting coverage is about Harry’s non-attendance.

After the Netflix doco, the book and a rather awkward appearance at his dad’s coronation, the bank of media waited eagerly for Harry’s next starring role, and so the no-show guaranteed that they ran with the story that the Duke of Sussex was “wasting the court’s time”, probably because it was easier than explaining his absence had more to do with confusion over the length of opening statements than his desire to attend his daughter’s second birthday.