Prince Harry’s legal battles with the press

Prince Harry is waging several legal battles against British tabloids – Copyright AFP JUSTIN TALLIS

Prince Harry has had a turbulent relationship with the media and holds the press responsible for the death of his mother Princes Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 as she fled from paparazzi.

Harry and his wife Meghan in 2020 stepped back from royal duties and relocated to California, in part blaming media attention for the move.

The prince has vowed to make reforming the British media his life’s mission and has waged several battles with UK tabloids over privacy concerns.

Here is a breakdown of his legal cases:

– Mirror Group Newspapers – 

The High Court in London ruled on Friday that Harry was a victim of phone hacking by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), and awarded him £140,600 ($179,600) in damages.

The judge agreed that 15 of 33 sample articles submitted by Harry as evidence in his lawsuit against MGN, which publishes The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, were based on unlawfully gathered material.

Bosses at the Mirror “could and should have put a stop to it” but instead “turned a blind eye to what was going on, and positively concealed it,” said the judge, as he awarded the prince damages and compensation “for the distress that he suffered”.

However, the judge also said that his phone was “only hacked to a modest extent” between the end of 2003 to April 2009.

Harry, who is among a number of celebrity claimants seeking damages from Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over unlawful information-gathering, called the verdict “vindicating and affirming”.

“The mission continues,” he added.

His is one of four representative cases selected for a trial that will also help the court decide the level of damages if their claims are successful.

An MGN spokesperson apologised to the prince for “historical wrongdoings” and said the ruling “gives the business the necessary clarity to move forward”.

– Associated Newspapers –

Several claimants, including Harry and pop star Elton John, are taking legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday tabloids over alleged breaches of privacy. 

They accuse Associated Newspapers (ANL) of methods such as hiring private investigators, tapping phone calls and impersonating individuals to obtain medical information for articles. 

Lawyers for the claimants said the alleged unlawful acts were carried out from 1993 to 2011, but some took place as late as 2018.

ANL has dismissed the allegations, arguing the case should not go to trial. A ruling is expected at a later date.

– Libel claim over security – 

In another lawsuit against the Daily Mail publisher, Harry is bringing a libel claim over an article about his separate legal battle with the British government over security arrangements while in the UK.

The article published by The Mail on Sunday newspaper in February 2022 suggested that Harry tried to keep the legal challenge a secret.

ANL is arguing the article did not cause “serious” reputational harm and expressed an “honest opinion”.  

Harry’s legal team have asked the court to dismiss ANL’s defence or deliver a judgment in his favour without going to trial. 

A judgment is expected at a later date.

– News Group Newspapers –

Harry is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), part of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire, for unlawful information-gathering. 

The publisher of tabloids The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World is asking the court to throw out the claims without trial, arguing they were brought too late.

But in documents submitted to court Harry claims the delay in filing a lawsuit against NGN stems from a “secret agreement” between the royal family as an institution and the publisher.

NGN denies the existence of such an agreement. 

A similar claim against NGN was brought by British actor Hugh Grant and the High Court recently ruled to let the case go to trial.