Why does Prince Harry taking the stand matter?

STORY: Prince Harry is set to testify at the High Court in London as part of his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers.

Harry and more than 100 other people are suing Mirror Group , accusing them of widespread unlawful activities, including phone-hacking, between 1991 and 2011.

The newspaper group is contesting the claims.....so what makes this case different, and what are the risks?

Prince Harry's appearance in court is likely to attract worldwide attention.

David Yelland is a a former editor of the tabloid, the Sun, which Harry is also suing.

''These kind of cases are often the case of mutually assured destruction, to be quite honest, I don't think anyone will get out looking great, which is why so many people try to avoid being there in the first place.''

''It's something that most senior members of the royal family have strived to get nowhere near for a long time because you immediately lose control over the situation and you're on oath.''

When Harry takes the stand, he will become the first British royal to appear in the witness box since the 1890s

It will be the first time a senior royal has given evidence since Edward VII testified as a witness in part of a divorce case in 1870, and 20 years later in a slander trial over a card game, both before he became king.

Harry, the fifth-in-line to the throne, has barely been out of the headlines in the last six months, as his legal war on the British press gathers steam.

It follows the release of his memoir and a Netflix documentary series in which he accused other senior royals of colluding with tabloids.

''It's hard to escape the notion that he's using the courts because he knows that when he's in the witness box, he will be believed. You know, it is the ultimate interview to be interviewed by a prosecutor, cross-examined by a hostile barrister."

This case is one of four that Harry is currently pursuing at the High Court against British newspapers.