William and Kate at the helm as Harry gives evidence in King's absence

King Charles on Friday arrived in Bucharest at the start of a “private” trip to Romania.

The monarch's visit y mean he is away while Prince Harry is back in the UK to give evidence in a court case. 

The King met President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni Palace before heading to Transylvania.

In the absence of King Charles, the Counsellors of State Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton will be at the helm of affairs.

Prince Harry will become the first British royal to appear in the witness box since the 1890s when he testifies 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 Newspapers (MGN), publisher of the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People tabloids, accusing them of widespread unlawful activities between 1991 and 2011.

Those involved include actors, sports stars, celebrities and people who simply had a connection to high-profile figures.

They say its journalists or private investigators commissioned by them carried out phone-hacking on an "industrial scale", obtained their private details by deception and carried out other illicit acts to find out information about them.

Senior editors and executives knew and approved of the behaviour, the claimants' lawyers say. MGN is contesting the claims and denies senior figures were aware of wrongdoing. It also argues some of the lawsuits were brought too late.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles, was selected at an earlier hearing as one of four test cases for the trial which began on May 10. He is due to give evidence when his specific case is heard over three days, starting on Monday.