A High Court judge today ruled that Prince Harry’s lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, related to accusations of unlawful information gathering, can go ahead.
Legal action against Associated Newspapers, who was brought forward by a number of high-profile figures alongside Prince Harry, including Sir Elton John, Lady Doreen Lawrence and Liz Hurley.
Tom Harwood spoke with royal correspondent Cameron Walker, reporting from outside the Royal Courts of Justice, to get the lowdown on all of Harry’s legal battles.
Tom began: “Cameron, we were speaking a moment ago when this news broke and you were saying just how many cases Prince Harry is winding up with in the courts. How many court cases is Prince Harry involved with now?”
Cameron Walker reports on Prince Harry's legal cases outside the Royal Courts of Justice
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Cameron explained: “Six civil cases, Tom. He has four cases against British newspapers, the one we're discussing today, which is now going to go to full blown trial against Associated Newspapers, which is the publisher of the Daily Mail, over alleged unlawful information gathering.
“He has another one against the same newspaper group over a libel issue. He has a case against the Mirror Group Newspapers for unlawful information gathering, a case against the Sun publisher, which is News Group Newspapers, for again unlawful information gathering.
“And then the final two cases he's having brought through the courts are two against the Home Office, the British government, the first of which is for not providing him with the same degree of police protection when he stepped back as a working member of the Royal Family. And the second is for not allowing him to pay for it - the police protection - himself.
“So it must cost a lot of money to pursue all these cases in the court. But it just shows that by Prince Harry taking the decision to step back as a working member of the Royal family, it's given him the freedom which he didn't have as a working member of the Royal family.
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Prince Harry will go to trial against The Mail publisherPA“Remember, the Royal family's motto is never complain, never explain, keep everything private. And Prince Harry has spoken in the past about being incredibly frustrated that he's had to keep silent and couldn't correct the record. And now of course he can.
“So I think that's why we're seeing this absolute avalanche of court cases and he is determined to really drag these newspaper groups, and indeed the Home Office, it looks like, through the courts to try and succeed.”
Tom was stunned, saying: “I was diligently jotting down my notes as you were reading there. The court case against the Home Office for not having police protection, for not allowing him to pay himself, for not having taxpayers paying police protection as well. Sun, Mirror, Associated Newspapers, libel, gathering of information… This man is addicted to litigation!”
“I suppose you could put it that way,” replied Cameron. “I think Prince Harry would certainly say that he sees it as his life's work to change the way that the British media operates.”
Prince Harry is currently fighting six civil cases through British courtsPA“He clearly is very affected by what happened to his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, when she tragically died in Paris in 1997, being chased by photographers and the newspaper intrusion which he believes she received. And of course we know through the Leveson inquiry, that Prince Harry and others were victims of phone hacking.
“However, we do need to also remember that all newspaper groups that Prince Harry is taking to court have denied the allegations against them and that is why we've got to the point now where we're in this trial period.”
“The case here today is against the publisher of the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers, and that will go to a very similar trial as to whether or not, on the balance of probabilities, Prince Harry was a victim or not.
“But it's not just Prince Harry. There are several high profile celebrities and figures involved in each of these litigation cases. So for example, the one today against Daily Mail, there are seven who are jointly suing the publisher of the Daily Mail for what they see is them being victims of unlawful information gathering. The Daily Mail’s publisher denies all the allegations.”
