On July 7, 2026, the UK High Court ruled against Prince Harry in his privacy lawsuit targeting Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail. The court dismissed all 97 allegations brought by six claimants, including singer Elton John and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, who accused the publisher of unlawful information gathering such as phone tapping, voicemail interception, and deceptive acquisition of personal information from the early 1990s to the 2010s.

Judge Matthew Nicklin, who issued the ruling remotely after an 11-week trial, stated that the claimants failed to prove their allegations and accepted the honesty of the journalists' evidence on how they sourced their stories. The judge noted that suspicion alone did not prove legal wrongdoing and that there was a realistic possibility the news came from legitimate sources. Some claims were also dismissed due to the elapsed time since the alleged offenses.

Prince Harry had given emotional testimony during the proceedings, describing the experience as "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." The case was the final of three lawsuits Harry brought against UK media, having previously settled with Rupert Murdoch's newspapers in January 2025.

Associated Newspapers called the ruling an "overwhelming victory" and a "magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail's journalism," stating that allegations of bugs placed in cars and homes, call listening, and illicit bank account access were "lurid" and "preposterous" with no credible evidence presented. The publisher also revealed it had spent £50 million (US$66 million) defending itself against the litigation.

The ruling came as Prince Harry began a five-day trip back to the UK, attending events including the Invictus Games in London.

Sources