Prince Harry is set to appear in London’s High Court on Monday as his privacy case against the publisher of U.K. tabloid Daily Mail kicks off.
The Duke of Sussex is one of several big names — including Elton John and his husband David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost — that are taking on Associated Newspapers Limited, alleging that the company engaged in illegal activities like phone-hacking and hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars. Associated Newspapers has denied the allegations, according to BBC News, calling them “preposterous.”
Harry is expected to deliver his evidence in court on Thursday, and the trial could last up to nine weeks. It’s his third time taking a major newspaper group to court, having previously sued The Sun owner News Group Newspapers, which settled before trial, as well as The Mirror Group, a case in which he won £140,600 in damages. Harry’s testimony during his 2023 trial against The Mirror Group made history, as he became the first royal in 130 years to testify in court.
David Sherborne, who represented Harry against News Group Newspapers, is the lawyer for the seven claimants, while Antony White is defending Associated Newspapers. As it is a civil trial, there is no jury and judge Mr Justice Nicklin will solely determine the outcome of the case. The winner will be awarded financial damages.
In his opening statement, according to BBC News, Sherborne said he will strive to prove that “there was clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering at both the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.” He alleged that there is “no way” some of the details reported by the publications — including phone numbers and flight information — could have been obtained lawfully, and that the company allegedly destroyed “masses upon masses” of emails and documents pre-dating 2004. “Journalists and executives across the Mail titles engaged in or were complicit in the culture of unlawful information gathering that wrecked the lives of so many,” the statement alleged.
Prince Harry will allege that 14 articles published by Associated Newspapers titles between 2001 and 2013 used unlawfully gathered information about him, BBC News reports. The topics of these articles include Elton John’s involvement in their mother Princess Diana’s memorial, photos of Diana after her fatal car crash and his personal relationships, including with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
In addition to denying any unlawful information gathering, Associated Newspapers will argue that too much time has passed since the period of Harry’s allegations, according to BBC News.
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Though John and Furnish were not present at the court on Monday, the music star and his husband wrote in a statement to the court that they felt their home had been “violated” by the alleged unlawful information gathering. BBC News reports that they are accusing Associated Newspapers of unlawfully obtaining medical information about the birth of their son Zachary and “stealing” his birth certificate “before we even had a chance to see it ourselves.”
White, the lawyer for Associated Newspapers, said John and Furnish’s allegations are “unsupported by any evidence before the court and utterly baseless.”
From Variety US