Prince Harry made an unexpected appearance in London this morning as he arrived at the High Court for the beginning of his privacy case.
The royal is among other famous faces who are suing Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) – publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday – over alleged unlawful information gathering.
With the four-day preliminary High Court hearing now underway, here's everything you need to know about Prince Harry's privacy case.
What is Prince Harry's privacy case about?
In October 2022, it was announced that the Duke of Sussex would be taking legal action against ANL over accusations that the newspaper group unlawfully gathered information about him.
Law firm Hamlins – which is representing the royal – allege that ANL's activity included:
- The hiring of private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people's cars and homes
- The commissioning of individuals to surreptitiously listen into and record people's live, private telephone calls whilst they were taking place
- The payment of police officials, with corrupt links to private investigators, for inside, sensitive information
- The impersonation of individuals to obtain medical information from private hospitals, clinics, and treatment centres by deception
- The accessing of bank accounts, credit histories and financial transactions through illicit means and manipulation
A four-day preliminary High Court hearing, starting today (Monday 27 March), will consider legal arguments and a judge will decide whether the case will go any further.
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What other celebrities are involved in Prince Harry's privacy case?
Along with Harry, some of the other famous faces suing ANL include singer Sir Elton John and actors Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley.
Notably, Doreen Lawrence – the mother of teenager Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a 1993 racist attack – is another of the claimants in the case.
What has ANL said about Prince Harry's privacy case?
In a statement released at the time the legal action was brought in October, the newspaper group said: "We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears which appear to be nothing more than a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old."
The statement went on: "These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims – based on no credible evidence – appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers, some of whom have already pursued cases elsewhere."
So far, legal restrictions requested by the newspaper group mean that specific details of their allegations have not been made public.
Does Prince Harry have any other legal cases?
The Duke is already suing the Mail on Sunday for libel over an article about his security arrangements, and last year he won damages from the same paper after a defamation claim.
Similarly, wife Meghan Markle won a privacy case against the publisher in 2021 for printing a letter she had written to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
In addition to the privacy case against ANL, Harry is expected to appear in court in May to give evidence in a libel trial against the Daily Mirror over yet more accusations of phone-hacking.
