NEED TO KNOW
- Prince Harry has returned to the UK for the trial against Associated Newspapers Ltd, alleging the publisher and its paper the Daily Mail unlawfully obtained information about him for news stories.
- The trial is expected to last for nine weeks.
- Other famous names, including Sir Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, also allege that the publisher used illegal methods to obtain stories.
Prince Harry has returned to court in London to settle against The Daily Mail, accusing them of using illegal methods to retrieve news.
The Duke of Sussex arrived at the court on January 19 and waved to supporters and journalists outside.
Elizabeth Hurley, Sir Elton John, and Sadie Frost are among a group of seven people who allege that the publication, which is owned by Associated Newspapers Ltd, has used methods such as phone hacking and “blagging” to obtain stories.
The publisher, which also runs Mail on Sunday, has denied these claims.
The Prince issued a written statement via his lawyer, saying it was “disturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it”.
A spokesperson for the Prince told news.com.au that he felt “confident and ready” for the upcoming case.
The trial is expected to last nine weeks. It’s the Prince’s third major court battle against the newspapers.
In January 2025, he won a five-year legal battle against The Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN), where he accused them of unlawful information gathering, phone hacking, surveillance, and the misuse of private information.
He also won a court judgement against the Daily Mirror in 2023.
Defence lawyer Anthony White said witnesses, including editors and reporters who have worked there for decades, plan to dispute the claims and explain their sourcing.
“This is in reality little more than guesswork — it involves jumping to conclusions based on insufficient evidence, or worse, artificially selecting and presenting evidence to fit the preconceived agenda,” he wrote in his statement.
“It also ignores the fact that references in articles to a ‘friend’, or similar, as a source can be accurate.”
Attorney David Sherborne, who is representing the plaintiffs, alleged that the unlawful news gathering about the Prince was in relation to 14 articles published between 2011 and 2013.
He also read Harry’s statement, citing that the articles and the released information caused “distrust and suspicion”; the “intrusion” was “terrifying” for his loved ones.
The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English was accused of “obtaining the exact plane seats, flight times and travel plans” of his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy in 2007, alleging that it was obtained through private investigator Mike Behr.
He was accused of suggesting that he could “plant someone next to her” on the flight.
White and English “strongly” deny it, and said the information was sourced “entirely legitimately”, and the allegations and evidence were “unsupported by the evidence before the court”.
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