Prince Harry ’s final lawsuit aimed at taming the British tabloids ended in defeat Tuesday as a judge found he failed to prove his privacy invasion claims against the publisher of the Daily Mail.
Justice Matthew Nicklin rejected the broad inferences the Duke of Sussex had relied on to try to show that Associated Newspapers Ltd. had engaged in unlawful activities. The judge said there was a realistic possibility the news came from legitimate sources.
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The ruling scuttles the lawsuits filed by Harry and six others, including singer Elton John and actor-model Elizabeth Hurley, which sought substantial damages and where the legal costs for years of preparation and an 11-week trial were estimated at about 40 million pounds ($53.5 million).
The publisher called it an “overwhelming victory” and a “magnificent vindication” of Mail’s journalism.
The case was the third and final of Harry’s lawsuits accusing tabloid publishers of using unlawful tactics, such as phone hacking, or hiring private detectives to dig up dirt to snoop on his life.
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It was “disturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it,” Harry said, in legal filings.
The newspapers denied the allegations as “preposterous,” insisting the roughly 50 articles at issue were based on lawful sources including friends, royal aides and publicists who offered information to reporters.
The verdict, released remotely with no court hearing, coincided with Harry’s visit home to the U.K., which has been dominated by headlines over his latest efforts to repair a rift with his father, King Charles III.
Harry has said his litigation – in which he broke with royal family tradition to seek relief in the courts – was a primary source of his falling out with his father and brother, Prince William.
His grudge with the press runs deep. He blames it for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris, and for attacks on his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, that led the couple to abandon royal life and move to the United States in 2020.
“They continue to come after me, they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery,” he testified in as he choked back tears in the witness box during the trial.
