Trial opens in Prince Harry’s case alleging illegal acts by Daily Mail

LONDON — Prince Harry’s third, and perhaps final, major legal showdown with Britain’s tabloid press opened in a London courtroom on Monday, as a closely watched trial began examining claims of widespread illegal information-gathering by the company that owns the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday newspapers.

The company, Associated Newspapers, is one of Britain’s largest newspaper publishers. Harry, who appeared in court wearing a dark suit and tie, is one of seven plaintiffs in the case who are alleging “habitual and widespread” legal violations that collectively span at least two decades — including hiring private investigators to bug phones and plant listening devices in homes and cars; unlawfully obtaining medical records and banking records; and hacking voicemail messages.

David Sherborne, the lawyer representing Harry and the other plaintiffs, said in his opening remarks that he would prove there was “clear, systematic and sustained use” of unlawful activity at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. He named several private investigators allegedly used by journalists, including one described as a “talented voice actor” who specialized in “blagging,” the impersonation of others to gain private information.

Court documents show Harry alleges that 14 articles, published between 2001 and 2013, relied on unlawfully obtained information, including flight details of his then girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, and what Harry’s lawyers described as “intimate conversations” with Prince William, his brother, related to images of their dying mother that appeared in the press.

Harry, who was seated behind Sherborne in the courtroom, stared attentively at a monitor as he followed the proceedings.

Associated Newspapers has strongly denied the allegations, calling them “preposterous smears.”

In its written submissions, Associated argued the allegations were unsupported by credible evidence and it can explain legitimate sourcing of its articles. The publisher also contends the claims should be dismissed because they were brought too late — more than six years after the plaintiffs became aware of an allegation. In some cases, Associated said, information came from “leaky” social circles rather than unlawful intrusion.

The trial’s significance extends beyond the plaintiffs themselves, said Mark Stephens, a media lawyer at the firm Howard Kennedy. “This case is about whether the last untouchable corner of Fleet Street was quietly doing the same things everyone else was caught doing,” he said in an email.

For the first time, Stephens added, a court will examine the Daily Mail’s historic newsgathering practices “to see whether it genuinely stood apart during the phone-hacking era — or whether it simply avoided scrutiny.”

In addition to Harry, who is King Charles III’s younger son, plaintiffs in the case include musician Elton John and his husband, David Furnish; actor and model Elizabeth Hurley; and Doreen Lawrence, whose 18-year-old son, Stephen, was murdered in a racist attack in 1993. Lawrence’s decision to join the case came as a surprise, given the Daily Mail publicly supported her campaign to bring her son’s killers to justice. Lawrence has described being stunned when Harry contacted her and informed her that allegedly she had been subject to phone hacking and other illegal information-gathering techniques.

The case marks the latest chapter in Harry’s long-running crusade against Britain’s tabloids. He has said he is on a mission to reform the news media and curb what he views are its excesses. Harry has repeatedly criticized the British news media, arguing that his mother, Princess Diana, was relentlessly harassed, and that his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was vilified by the British press. Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 after being chased by paparazzi.

Harry has secured judgments and settlements against major publishers. In 2023, Harry became the first senior British royal in more than a century to testify in court, during his case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror. A judge concluded that the prince, also known as the Duke of Sussex, was a victim of “widespread” phone hacking and awarded him 140,600 pounds in damages.

Last year, Harry secured a last-minute settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers. The company apologized for the “serious intrusion” into his private life and Harry reportedly received an eight-figure sum.

A spokesperson for the prince said there were no additional media-related court cases planned.

The trial comes amid media reports that the British government is considering whether to reinstate Harry’s full personal security protection while he is in the United Kingdom. The U.K. government is also scrutinizing a high-profile bid by the Daily Mail and General Trust — the parent company of Associated Newspapers — to acquire the Daily Telegraph under competition and media plurality rules.

The trial, at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, is expected to last about nine weeks, with testimony from plaintiffs and witnesses including Harry and Elton John, as well as current and former journalists and executives from the Daily Mail.