The Duke of Sussex is set to discover the outcome of his legal claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail over claims of unlawful information gathering, one of several cases involving Harry in recent years.
Harry and several other household names, including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), with the claims heard at an 11-week trial in London.
The group alleged that private investigators, freelance journalists and ANL staff carried out voicemail interception, landline tapping, and obtaining information by deception, allegations that the publisher strongly denied.
ANL has strongly defended the claims and denies wrongdoing, with Mr Justice Nicklin set to hand down his ruling at 2pm on Tuesday.
Here, the Press Association looks at the duke’s recent legal cases, including the libel claim Harry faces from a charity he co-founded.
– Unlawful information gathering claim against ANL
Harry is suing ANL over 14 articles between 2001 and 2013.
Giving evidence in January, he told the High Court in a witness statement that he was “determined to hold Associated accountable” and that he did not see “why Associated should get away with something they have covered up and lied about for however many years”.
He also said in his written evidence that “knowingly false” information was added to stories to “put me off the scent”, to conceal unlawful methods, including voicemail interception.
In court, the duke appeared on the verge of tears as he said that the publisher had “made my wife’s life an absolute misery”, and that it continued to “come after me”.
He denied having “leaky” social circles during cross-examination by ANL’s barrister, Antony White KC, adding: “My social circles were not leaky, I want to make that absolutely clear.”
In written submissions, Mr White said the publisher “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at the duke.
He continued that the articles “were sourced entirely legitimately from information variously provided by contacts of the journalists responsible, including individuals in the Duke of Sussex’s social circle, press officers and publicists, freelance journalists, photographers and prior reports”.
– Harry sued for libel by the charity he co-founded
The duke is currently being sued for defamation by Sentebale, with which he had worked for 19 years before stepping down as one of its patrons.
The duke, who is being sued alongside former trustee Mark Dyer, stood down in support of a group of trustees, who themselves resigned after a dispute with the board of trustees chairwoman, Dr Sophie Chandauka.
Sentebale’s board of trustees claims that Harry co-ordinated an “adverse media campaign” which caused “operational disruption and reputational harm”, and has asked for the court’s “protection”.
The duke has rejected the “offensive and damaging” claim.
– Settlement with News Group Newspapers
In January 2025, the duke settled a claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes The Sun and published the now-defunct News Of The World.
Harry, who was taking legal action alongside former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson, alleged he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for the publisher.
Shortly before an up-to-10-week trial was due to begin in January 2025, the duke and NGN reached an agreement including a “full and unequivocal apology” and “substantial” damages.
NGN apologised to Harry for intrusion between 1996 and 2011, including “incidents of unlawful activities” by private investigators working for The Sun.
The publisher also apologised to the duke for phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators at the News of the World, which closed in 2011.
It also apologised for the impact of the “serious intrusion” into the private life of Harry’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
– Challenge against the Home Office over UK security arrangements
In 2024, Harry lost a High Court claim against the Home Office over security arrangements for himself and his family when they are in the UK.
He challenged a February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which falls under the remit of the department, after being told he would no longer be given the “same degree” of personal protective security when visiting.
Harry’s lawyers said he was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” in the decision, while the Government argued Ravec was entitled to conclude the duke’s protection should be “bespoke” and considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
Retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled that Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair, claiming Harry’s lawyers had taken “an inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the Ravec process”.
In May last year, the duke lost a challenge against the ruling, with the Court of Appeal finding that it was “impossible to say that (Ravec’s) reasoning was illogical or inappropriate”.
In December, the Sun reported that the duke’s security arrangements were being reviewed.
– Withdrawn libel claim against ANL
Harry also sued ANL over a February 2022 Mail on Sunday article about the challenge against the Home Office.
The duke’s lawyers claimed the story “purported to reveal, in sensational terms”, that information from court documents “contradicted public statements he had previously made about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family whilst in the UK”.
ANL contested the claim, arguing the article expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause “serious harm” to his reputation.
Harry withdrew the claim in January 2024, with a spokesperson claiming that the duke did not want to “give a continued platform to the Mail’s false claims”.
– Legal battle with Mirror Group Newspapers
The duke also sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, claiming journalists at its publications were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” – gaining information by deception – and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
In December 2023, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that phone hacking became “widespread and habitual” at MGN titles in the late 1990s and that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN, awarding him £140,600 in damages.
In February 2024, the duke then settled the remainder of his claim, with the publisher agreeing to pay him a “substantial additional sum” in damages, as well as all of the costs of his claim.
