Prince Harry returns to London court for final phase of media lawsuit

Prince Harry is returning to London’s High Court this week as a major legal battle with the British tabloid press enters its final and most significant phase.

The Duke of Sussex is the leading claimant in a high-profile lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Ltd, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. The case alleges years of unlawful intrusion into the private lives of public figures through illegal information-gathering practices.

Harry is joined in the claim by a group of well-known figures, including singer Sir Elton John, actor Elizabeth Hurley and actress Sadie Frost. They accuse the publisher of hiring private investigators to engage in activities such as phone tapping, bugging vehicles and accessing confidential personal records to generate sensational stories.

The publisher has denied the allegations and called them preposterous.

The trial, which is expected to last around nine weeks, marks Harry’s second appearance in the witness box since 2023, when he became the first senior royal in more than a century to give evidence in court.

That testimony was part of his successful case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, which a judge later ruled had engaged in widespread phone hacking.

In recent years, several publishers have faced legal consequences, public apologies and costly settlements related to privacy violations.