Prince Harry loses privacy case against Daily Mail publisher

The case was brought by seven claimants, including Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Elizabeth Hurley, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Sir Simon Hughes, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Sadie Frost Law. The 46-day trial was heard between January 19 and March 31, 2026.

The claimants alleged misuse of private information and, in some cases, breach of confidence arising from alleged unlawful information gathering. They claimed the publisher had used methods including private investigators, obtaining information by deception, phone hacking and corrupt payments to gather material for articles published in its newspapers and online. Associated Newspapers denied all wrongdoing.

In a judgment handed down on July 7, Mr. Justice Nicklin ruled that the claimants had failed to prove their allegations. According to the court’s summary, the judge found that the claimants could not prove their case based only on general assumptions. The court said the claims could not succeed where there was a realistic lawful way the information may have been obtained, or where there was no clear evidence linking a specific article to unlawful information gathering.

The court stressed that suspicion, even where understandable, was not enough. It also rejected the argument that information must have been unlawfully sourced simply because it was private and because Associated could not positively explain how it had been obtained.

The court further noted that the proceedings were civil claims brought by individual claimants, not a public inquiry into the general conduct of Associated Newspapers. It therefore considered the evidence on an article-specific basis and did not make findings on whether unlawful information gathering was widespread or habitual at the publisher.

In a separate order, the High Court stated that “the claims are dismissed.” A further hearing on consequential orders, including costs, is scheduled for July 29-30.

The case is part of a wider legal battle between Prince Harry and British tabloid publishers over alleged unlawful information gathering and privacy breaches.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Prince Harry returned to the UK without Meghan Markle and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, amid continued questions over security arrangements for the Sussex family.