Prince Harry, avenger of phone hacking

Since he and his wife, Meghan Markle, announced their decision in 2020 to step back as royals and leave Britain, many versions of Prince Harry have been offered up for public viewing.

There was the freed Harry of J. Crew of the Oprah Winfrey tells it all, the tie abandoned, the shirt unbuttoned to the neck. Plain Harry in a plain gray T-shirt looking from the cover of his memoirs. Laid back cool California dad Harry dressed in all black from the netflix documentary. And, most recently, demoted Harry at the coronation of his father, King Charles III, wearing a Dior morning coat since he could no longer wear his military uniform, casting Edward VIII hues and relegated to the third row.

Now, thanks to his two days of testimony in London’s High Court in the phone hacking test against the Mirror Newspaper Group, there is one more Harry: the earnest private citizen, girded to fight for the right of all against the unfavorable intrusions of the British tabloid press.

It is the first time that a member of royalty has testified in court since 1891, and his appearance can reframe not only what that looks like for the story, but also what Harry stands for. After all, there are no cameras in the courtroom, so the entrance footage is what the world sees even before they read the reports on what’s being said (if they read the reports on what’s being said at all). ). It is the basis on which new public opinion is formed.

This Harry is wearing carefully tailored dark single-breasted suits: deep navy on Tuesday, dark gray on Wednesday, shaded to convey the somber nature of the situation (and no Dior, according to the brand, at least not “as far as we know,” a said the Dior spokeswoman). Skinny ties in simple shades only hint at his royal status: a purple so dark it was almost black, a light silver. Pure white shirts with slightly turned-up collars and black shoes shone with a high shine.

His silhouette, like his ties, is narrow with just a hint of California, rather than Savile Row, in the row. There is very little to distract from her words, except for the occasional flash of a rope bracelet as she waves to the watching audience.

“The whole set is ‘one-sided’ on details,” said Joseph Rosenfeld, an image consultant to executives in New York and Silicon Valley, pointing to Harry’s old identity as a backup. The effect is traditional enough to be respectful without appearing stingy, Rosenfeld said. “Man knows, whether he likes it or not, that many eyes are on him.”

The effect is that of someone somber and utterly unruffled, yet also, thanks to his scruffy beard, the one Harry once described as a “shield” from anxiety: himself. The opposite of the “thicko”, the “playboy prince” and the “irresponsible drug addict” that the chips tried to paint, as Harry said in his testimony. He looks more like a successful businessman (one who works somewhere other than the “family business”) than a member of royalty, which also makes him more relatable.

It’s hard to imagine that he just pulled the look at random from his wardrobe, given the strategic way in which his wife, for example, has clearly considered the couple image making and its effects since their relationship began.

Rather, for this purpose, Harry is dressed in the supersuit of court attire. Up, up and away with phone hacking, abuse of power, irresponsibility. He’s an avenger of a different kind, and this is the end of him. Or, given the multiple complaints he has filed, at least Part II.