Harry Gets His Answer as UK Court Rules on Mail Publisher Lawsuit

The Duke of Sussex flew in for the verdict in his long-running phone-hacking and unlawful-information case against Associated Newspapers, four years after he first filed suit.

Prince Harry sued Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, in 2022 over alleged unlawful information gathering.
The court delivered its verdict during a rare UK visit by the Duke, who has been based in California since 2020.
The case is one of several royal and celebrity lawsuits targeting tabloid practices in the British press.
Harry has been one of the most prominent figures to pursue legal action against UK tabloid publishers.
The verdict lands as the Duke's relationship with the British press remains publicly and pointedly strained.

There have been quieter ways to come home. Prince Harry was back on British soil last week when a London court delivered its long-awaited ruling in his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the publisher behind the Daily Mail — a case four years in the making and one of the more closely watched legal contests between a royal and the tabloid press.

Harry filed the suit in 2022, alleging that Associated Newspapers had unlawfully obtained private information about him. The claim sat inside a broader wave of litigation that has put the mechanics of British tabloid newsgathering on trial — literally — over the past several years. Mirror Group Newspapers settled with him in 2023. News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, reached a settlement earlier this year. Associated Newspapers was the last major target standing.

The Duke has lived in Montecito, California since stepping back from royal duties in 2020, and his appearances in the UK have grown infrequent enough to register as events in themselves. That he was present for the verdict — rather than receiving word across eight time zones — added a layer of theatre the proceedings probably did not need.

Associated Newspapers has consistently denied the allegations. The Daily Mail and its sister titles have maintained that their journalism operated within the law.

The verdict now becomes part of the public record in what has been, by any measure, an unusually sustained legal campaign by a member of the royal family against the British press. The next question, as it tends to be in these cases, is what happens on appeal.