Prince Harry ‘arrives in UK’ ready for High Court battle
Prince Harry has reportedly arrived in the UK as he prepares to take over the publisher of the Daily Mail ahead of his high-stakes legal battle with the British media giant.
The prince’s case against the newspaper’s publishers, Associated Newspapers, will finally be heard at the High Court in London on Monday, with a nine-week trial.
Seven high-profile figures attended the Duke of Sussex’s protest, including Elton John, his husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, Stephen Lawrence’s mother Baroness Doreen Lawrence and former Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes.
Plaintiffs accused the Daily Mail of hiring private detectives to plant listening devices in cars and homes, hacking phones, paying police for information and even stealing.
Associated Newspapers, owned by the Rothermere family, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, describing the allegations as “preposterous smears” and part of a wider conspiracy.
The stakes are high for all parties involved in the case, with reputations at stake and legal costs expected to run into tens of millions of pounds.
Prince Harry reportedly arrived in London on Sunday and will testify on Thursday. A source close to Harry told The Telegraph he felt “confident and prepared” for the court battle with Associated Newspapers.
The source added: “Confident and ready are the words I would use to describe her current state of mind.”
The 41-year-old younger son of King Charles has repeatedly expressed deep resentment at the aggressive tactics often employed by the British media; this attitude was often linked to the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.
Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan have previously stated that media harassment was one of the main factors in their decision to step down from royal duties and move to California in 2020.
This case against Associated Newspapers may be Prince Harry’s most significant legal challenge, following successful actions against Mirror Group Newspapers and Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN), which resulted in damages, apologies and admissions of wrongdoing.
In 2023 the prince won a high court battle against the Mirror newspapers; In the case, the judge found “widespread and habitual” use of phone hacking in newspapers.
Prince Harry’s claim against the Daily Mail publisher covers 14 allegedly unlawfully obtained articles, including stories about his relationships with ex-girlfriends Chelsy Davy, Cressida Bonas and Laura Gerard-Leigh, and an article detailing a party planned by the brothers after Princess Diana’s memorial concert.
The trial took place more than two decades after it was closed World News, for a phone hacking scandal that led to the jailing of its former editor and a public inquiry.
