Prince Harry, Elton John and others lost a case against the publisher of the Daily Mail
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Prince Harry, the youngest son of King Charles, and other British dignitaries on Tuesday lost their privacy lawsuits against the publisher of the Daily Mail that they accused of widespread misconduct.
Singer Elton John and his Canadian husband, David Furnish, and actresses Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley were among others who sued the publisher. They allege dozens of stories about them published by Associated Newspapers in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday from the 1990s to 2011 were based on illegally obtained information.
Judge Matthew Nicklin said in his summary judgment that the plaintiffs needed to prove that the information published about them was obtained illegally, but that allegation was not enough.
“The court rejected the argument that, simply because the information was confidential, and because Associated could not properly explain how it was obtained, the subject matter must have been unlawfully taken,” the summary said.
Harry held back tears in the witness box in January as he said the Daily Mail had made his wife Meghan’s life “an absolute misery.”
Associated Newspapers said the allegations were false and the claims against them were dismissed in their entirety on Tuesday, in what the publisher called “a stunning victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists.”
Split decisions with tabloids
The case was the latest in a series of unusual lawsuits filed by Harry, accusing tabloid publishers of using illegal tactics.
Harry was previously awarded 140,600 pounds (about $240,430 Cdn) after the High Court ruled that he was the victim of “decent” wiretapping and other illegal information gathering by journalists at Britain’s Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.
In 2023, Harry became the first British monarch to give evidence in a trial in 130 years, when he testified as part of the trial.
Prince Harry’s upcoming trip to the UK will not include a stay at Buckingham Palace, but why his residence is changing is not yet clear. The King’s son is returning home to promote the Invictus games.
In another case, the Rupert Murdoch-led Media Group in the UK offered “a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex” for “the wiretapping, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and independent investigators commissioned by them.”
Harry alleges that News Groups Newspapers (NGN) illegally obtained private information about him from 1996 to 2011.
The court previously dismissed allegations made in a court filing that Murdoch’s newspaper group had a secret deal with Buckingham Palace to prevent members of the royal family from filing such charges.
Harry admitted in a British publication that the battle against the tabloids was “part of the rift” with members of the royal family.
King Charles opposed the case, Harry said in official filings.
Harry has long been vocal about his anger at media coverage, which he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in 1997 when the car she was riding in crashed while leaving paparazzi in Paris.
John, too, has faced British tabloids in legal battles dating back to the 1980s. In 2006, the Daily Mail agreed to pay the singer damages and legal costs for a false report about a fundraising event.
Furnish and John’s case in this case relates to 10 articles published between 2002 and 2015, including a 2007 story in the Mail about a concert to mark the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.
Furnish, from Toronto, testified earlier this year that Mail articles were “homophobic” about their relationship.
Harry is in the UK, visiting London and Birmingham for a series of charity events, including the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style competition he founded for war veterans around the world. The event was held in British Columbia last year, and is scheduled to be held in Birmingham next year.
The visit has sparked speculation over whether the inseparable royal will spend time with his father, who has not seen his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, born to Harry’s American wife. The family settled in California.
In recent days it emerged that Harry’s family would not be in the UK for the trip, and that the Duke of Sussex would not be staying at Buckingham Palace during his visit.
Harry has also faced battles over his level of security while in the UK the British authorities say that Harry does not deserve to be protected by the cloak because he is no longer a working member of the royal family and that they evaluate his security case by case, like any other celebrity.
