In a hearing for his privacy case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), Prince Harry's lawyer has told the High Court that members of the Royal Family, notably the Prince and Princess of Wales may have been the targets of unlawful information gathering.
Exposing the revelation at the preliminary hearing, barrister David Sherborne claimed that details of Prince William's 21st birthday party (published in the Daily Mail at the time) were potentially “blagged” by a private investigator. He also went on to suggest that Kate Middleton's mobile phone appeared to have been targeted as part of the phone-hacking scandal.
Going into detail, Sherborne said that through evidence (namely, an invoice) it could be “inferred” that information published by the Daily Mail ahead of Will's twenty-first birthday party was “obtained through blagging”—meaning dishonestly. The barrister pointed to the title of the invoice, “Out of Africa Story Royal Party Enqs,” which was dated a few months after the royal's Out of Africa-themed party in June of 2003.
Elsewhere in the hearing, Sherborne said that a separate record allegedly showed a journalist commissioning a private investigator in relation to Kate's mobile phone and contact numbers from a “family and friends” list.
ANL's lawyers have strongly denied the allegations put forward, which they described as “lurid” and “preposterous,” and previously said the case had been brought “without foundation.” They also suggested the reputations of hard-working journalist had been disparaged, and called the case an “affront.”
The hearing was brought so that both sides could argue about which allegations will be included when the claim goes to trial early next year. Lawyers for the Daily Mail's publisher put forward that parts of the claim should be thrown out because they involved “general” allegations of unlawful information gathering or related to other newspaper groups. In response, Sherborne said that ANL's bid to throw out parts of the claim was largely “unreasonably and unfairly late” and should be dismissed.
Prince Harry was not in court to hear the claims, but is thought to have listened to proceedings remotely. Two other claimants in the case against ANL, Sir Elton's husband David Furnish and actress Sadie Frost, were present in court, however. The case has been ongoing since news of it broke in 2022, although some of the allegations date back decades.
