Prince Harry, Elton John lose case against UK tabloid

Prince Harry has also been involved in other legal spats, including over his police protection in Britain following his dramatic departure from frontline royal duties six years ago. (AFP pic)

LONDON: Prince Harry and Elton John on Tuesday lost their case against the Daily Mail’s publisher for alleged unlawful information gathering, according to a ruling by London’s High Court.

A written judgement published following an 11-week trial earlier this year said the “claimants failed to prove their pleaded allegations… the claims are therefore dismissed.”

Welcoming the judgement by Judge Matthew Nicklin, Associated Newspapers called it an “overwhelming victory” and a “magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail’s journalism”.

It said the court’s dismissal of the “every single one of the 97 allegations made by the claimants” showed the judge had “accepted the honesty of our journalists’ evidence on how they sourced their stories”.

Allegations that bugs had been placed in people’s cars and homes, calls had been listened to and bank accounts illicitly accessed had been “lurid” and “preposterous” with no “credible evidence” ever presented, Associated said in a statement.

“The reputations of our decent and hard-working journalists were terribly impugned, and today they have been exonerated,” it added.

The prince gave emotional testimony during the proceedings in which several high-profile figures, including John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, accused the tabloid publisher of invading their privacy.

Harry’s lawyers had said they were seeking “substantial” damages on behalf of their clients over articles dating from 1993 to 2018.

It was the third and final case brought by the Duke of Sussex in his acrimonious legal battle with British tabloids, which has further strained relations with the royal family.

‘Disappointing’

Harry, 41 – the youngest son of King Charles III – has also been involved in other legal spats, including over his police protection in Britain following his dramatic departure from frontline royal duties six years ago.

The prince, now living in California, arrived in Britain on Monday for a five-day visit expected to go ahead mostly without his wife and children after the family was refused police protection.

The trip, to mark the one-year countdown to next year’s Invictus Games for wounded veterans, which Harry founded, was meant to be his first family trip back to the UK in four years.

But a source close to the Duke of Sussex told AFP that Harry’s wife Meghan, son Archie and daughter Lilibet would not accompany him on the London leg of the trip after the family was refused security.

Arrangements for the rest of the trip were still under consideration, the source said, leaving it unclear whether the whole family would visit but stay outside the capital.

Contradictory statements about plans to stay at Buckingham Palace while in London added to the prince’s headaches.

Just ahead of Harry’s arrival, Buckingham Palace contradicted the duke’s team to say that he would not be staying at the palace after missing a deadline to accept the accommodation offer.

Harry’s spokesman said it was “disappointing” the offer to be hosted by his father had been “withdrawn at the last moment”, in a statement sent to the AFP.

Security woes

It was unclear whether the prince would meet his father during the trip. He is last understood to have met Charles, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, at the monarch’s London residence, Clarence House, in September 2025.

Harry and Meghan left Britain for North America in 2020 amid a bitter feud with his family, which worsened as Harry published his tell-all memoir, “Spare”.

The prince has since said he wishes to reconcile with his father.

According to his spokesperson, Harry had to make “alternative security arrangements” for the trip after publicly funded protection was refused, contributing to the delay in accepting Buckingham Palace’s accommodation offer.

Last year, Harry said he felt unable to bring his family to Britain after losing a court case to have his security restored during visits home.

Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.