Prince Harry, along six other high-profile figures, faces a devastating defeat in the phone hacking case against Associated Newspapers Limited earlier this month.
Justice Nicklin dismissed the claims in their entirety in a 436-page judgment, which Harry and o-claimant Baroness Doreen Lawrence dubbed as a “complete and obvious whitewash”.
It was earlier revealed that Harry would be facing an eye-watering sum given the sensitivity of the legal battle. Apart from Harry and Doreen, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost and Sir Simon Hughes were also involved.
The case is now set to return to court on Wednesday for a two-day hearing dealing with consequential matters arising from the judgment.
The hearing is expected to concern issues including legal costs, with ANL stating it has already run up costs of more than £50 million, and whether any of the group will seek to appeal against the ruling.
The trial was focussed on the claims that 97 articles published contained information allegedly sourced through unlawful means such as phone hacking. The lawyers argued that private investigators, freelance journalists and staff at ANL carried out acts including voicemail interception, landline tapping and obtaining information by deception – also known as “blagging”.
In the end, the Judge Niklin remarked that it was “not a permissible approach”.
Harry and Doreen expressed their disappointment in a lengthy statement, which can be summed up as: “We came to court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither.”
2026-07-29 13:47:00
