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A court has heard how Prince Harry felt “paranoid beyond belief” because of alleged unlawful information gathering by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. The Duke of Sussex is one of seven prominent individuals, including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, who have accused ANL of serious invasions of privacy spanning two decades. According to a statement submitted by Harry’s legal team, the prince believed that his “every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it.” ANL, however, has denied these claims, pointing out that the duke’s circle of acquaintances was widely regarded as a source of media leaks.
Representing ANL, Antony White KC highlighted that none of the contested articles were ever complained about by the claimants at the time they were published. He described the attempt to establish a pattern of wrongdoing as unfounded. Alongside Prince Harry, the claimants include actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes, and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen Lawrence was tragically murdered in a racist attack in 1993.
Harry attended the first day of the trial at the High Court in London, where David Sherborne, lawyer for the claimants, cited the prince’s written statement. Harry described the press’s alleged conduct as creating “distrust and suspicion,” calling the experience “terrifying” for his family and isolating for himself. The legal team detailed how unlawful information gathering pertained to 14 articles published between 2001 and 2013. One particular allegation involved Daily Mail royal editor Rebecca English, accused of unlawfully obtaining specific details on Chelsy Davy’s travel plans in 2007 through private investigator Mike Behr, who reportedly suggested placing someone next to her on the flight. White denies that English ever engaged in any unlawful activities with Behr and emphasizes that much of the information could have come from leaks within Harry’s social circles or statements made by Palace spokespeople.
Sherborne asserted that the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday engaged in “systematic and sustained” illegal information gathering. The claimants’ joint statements implicated several senior journalists at ANL in commissioning material sourced unlawfully. Among the specific allegations, Sir Elton John and David Furnish accused the publisher of stealing their son’s birth certificate, referring to it as an invasion of privacy. Katie Nicholl, a Mail on Sunday journalist, was accused of acquiring deeply personal information about Sadie Frost’s private life, including details about the termination of her pregnancy. Additionally, Baroness Lawrence said the press targeted her during her pursuit of justice for her murdered son, describing that she “could not even grieve the injustice… even for a day.” She claimed veteran crime correspondent Stephen Wright paid thousands in cash for information and used a known blagging agent to contact her under false pretenses. White categorically denies all such accusations, calling them unsupported by evidence.
Throughout the proceedings, ANL has maintained a defensive stance, previously denying any wrongdoing at the 2012 Leveson Inquiry into press ethics while internally investigating phone hacking between 2003 and 2005. Sherborne accused the publisher of a “hear no evil, see no evil” approach. White responded that ANL could produce witnesses to explain how every challenged article was legitimately sourced. The trial, which is expected to last nine weeks under the sole judgement of Mr Justice Nicklin, marks Prince Harry’s third significant legal action against newspaper groups for alleged unlawful conduct. Previously, in December 2023, he successfully won 15 claims against Mirror Group Newspapers, and in January 2025, the publisher of The Sun issued an apology and paid substantial damages over similar accusations
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