Prince Harry’s long-running legal case against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) begins its eight-week trial at the High Court in London on Tuesday.
The Duke of Sussex alleges that senior figures at NGN knew about and orchestrated a cover-up of widespread unlawful activities at “The Sun” and the now-defunct “News of the World”.
Harry, joined by former senior lawmaker Tom Watson, accuses NGN of engaging in phone hacking and other illicit information-gathering tactics between 1996 and 2011. Unlike other claimants who settled their cases to avoid potential financial losses, Harry is pursuing the matter to seek accountability.
“One of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability, because I’m the last person that can actually achieve that,” Harry said last month. He is set to testify in February.
NGN has already paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to settle over 1,300 lawsuits from celebrities, politicians, sports figures, and ordinary individuals whose personal data was unlawfully accessed. Prince William, Harry’s elder brother and heir to the throne, reportedly settled his own phone-hacking case against NGN in 2020 for what Harry’s legal team described as “a very large sum of money.”
The current trial aims to address broad issues, such as the extent of illegal activities at NGN’s publications and whether senior executives and editors knowingly covered up wrongdoing. Harry’s legal team alleges that NGN misled police, falsified statements during a public inquiry into media ethics in 2011-2012, and destroyed evidence, including millions of emails, to conceal unlawful behaviour.
NGN denies the claims, with a spokesperson calling the allegations “wrong, unsustainable, and strongly denied.” The publisher maintains there was no unlawful activity at “The Sun”, and it intends to mount a robust defence with testimony from technologists, lawyers, and senior staff.
The trial will feature testimony from prominent figures, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, actors Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, singer Lily Allen, and Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney.
Harry, who has positioned his legal action as a quest for truth rather than financial gain, aims to spotlight the ethics of the British press. The prince’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal battles he has launched against the media, underscoring his commitment to holding powerful organisations accountable.
Despite NGN’s repeated denials, the trial raises critical questions about the boundaries of press behaviour and the consequences for breaches of public trust.
Melissa Enoch
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