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Prince Harry’s lawsuit against the Murdoch family’s News Group Newspapers will move ahead to trial early next year. It will begin in January and it’s expected to go on for six to eight weeks. It’s very possible that the trial will still be on-going when the Invictus Games start in Canada. I’m pointing that out because we’ll get a blitz of horrible stories about Harry and Meghan starting in the new year, if not earlier. But it looks like the NGN lawsuit was taking up a lot of space, so much so that many forgot that Harry is also suing the f–k out of the Mail. He hasn’t settled anything with the Mail, and now that lawsuit has a potential trial date for early 2026.
Prince Harry and other high-profile British figures’ privacy lawsuits against the Daily Mail newspaper’s publisher will go to trial in early 2026, London’s High Court heard on Tuesday, with the parties’ legal costs set to exceed 38 million pounds ($47.8 million).
Harry, the younger son of King Charles, is one of seven claimants suing Associated Newspapers over allegations of voicemail interception – commonly known as phone-hacking – and other serious privacy breaches dating back 30 years. Associated, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday, has always denied involvement in unlawful practices. Its lawyers said in filings for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday that the claimants’ allegations were “firmly denied”.
The publisher’s attempt to throw out the lawsuits was rejected last year, paving the way for a trial which the claimants and Associated say should begin in early 2026. Lawyers representing the claimants, who also include singer Elton John and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, expect to spend around 18.4 million pounds up to and including the trial, with Associated incurring nearly 20 million pounds, according to court filings made public on Tuesday.
Harry and the other claimants’ lawsuits, which were filed in 2022, marked the first time Associated had been dragged into the phone-hacking scandal, which emerged more than a decade ago and prompted a public inquiry into the ethics of the press and several criminal trials. It also sparked long-running litigation against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, News Group Newspapers, and the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
Harry’s case against Associated is one of several he has brought against British media organisations as part of his “mission” to purge executives and editors whom he accuses of spreading lies and intruding into people’s lives.
The prince accepted substantial damages from MGN to settle the remainder of his phone-hacking lawsuit, having been awarded 140,600 pounds (around $178,000) after the High Court ruled he had been targeted by journalists.
We still don’t know the final number of the settlement between Harry and Mirror Group, but MGN did settle the rest of Harry’s claims. It’s an open question as to whether NGN and Associated will make Harry an offer he can’t refuse, if they haven’t done so already. The way the NGN outlets attack Harry on a daily basis, it doesn’t look like they believe they have a strong case. The Mail is trickier though – Meghan’s lawsuit was successful, but it came at a personal cost. If the Mail tries to settle, I suspect they’ll make an offer after the NGN case wraps up (depending on the result).
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Monday 27 March, 2023. He is suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over an article published in The Mail On Sunday in February 2022 about his security arrangements in the UK.,Image: 765487574, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696129, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766160448, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766160529, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766160550, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
