Mon March 27, 2023
Britain’s Prince Harry has arrived at London’s High Court to attend a hearing in his claim against Associated Newspapers Limited over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
Last year, the Duke of Sussex joined a number of well-known people, including the artist Elton John, in suing the owner of the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, and the Mail Online.
In the case, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) is charged with using several illegal methods to gather information on prominent individuals over the years.
The remaining plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Doreen Lawrence, Sadie Frost, David Furnish, and Elizabeth Hurley.
They assert that they were “victims of heinous criminal behavior and egregious invasions of privacy,” according to a statement made at the time by their counsel.
The group claims that ANL hired private investigators to engage in illegal activities like secretly recording private calls and placing listening devices in homes and cars. It further alleges that the publication paid dishonest police officers to gain inside information, used disguise and deceit to obtain medical records, and used “illicit tactics and manipulation” to hack into bank accounts and financial activities.
At a four-day preliminary hearing beginning on Monday at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, ANL is anticipated to attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.
According to PA Media, the publisher has called the action a “pre-planned and organized attempt to draw the Mail titles into the phone-hacking crisis” and denounced the accusations as “preposterous slander.”
According to an ANL spokeswoman, the allegations were “unsubstantiated and highly defamatory statements, based on no reliable evidence,” according to a report from the British news agency PA Media.
Prince Harry has filed various cases in the last few years, including this one against ANL.
He also filed a lawsuit against ANL after the Mail on Sunday reported on his separate legal actions against the UK Home Office about the security arrangements for his family while they were in the country.
In 2019, he also filed a lawsuit against the owners of the UK tabloid newspapers The Sun and The Daily Mirror for alleged past phone hacking. Trial for the Daily Mirror publisher’s case is scheduled for May.
The 38-year-old royal made an unexpected appearance in London on Monday, and it is believed that this is his first journey back to the country since he and his wife, Meghan, attended the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral there in September.
The Sussexes have now published a Netflix docuseries and the duke’s memoir, which have added to our understanding of his strained relationship with the rest of the royal family.
A royal source told CNN that Harry is not anticipated to see his brother, the Prince of Wales. The source continued, “Prince William is not in Windsor because it is the summer break from school.”
