Prince Harry loses Daily Mail lawsuit, breaks silence in verdict

LONDON – It’s a big day for Prince Harry.

The duke, who is visiting his home country for a week, has lost his privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline.

The highly anticipated verdict comes after Harry, along with six other high-profile claimants including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, sued Associated Newspapers, alleging unlawful information gathering. Alleged privacy breaches include voicemail interception, phone hacking and obtaining personal information through deception.

Associated Newspapers has denied the allegations, deeming them “preposterous” and arguing that its journalists relied on legitimate sources for information, including friends and royal aides.

There was no court hearing Tuesday, July 7; instead, the judgment in the legal case was handed down remotely. Harry was photographed waving to crowds as he attended a separate charity event in London.

The claims have been dismissed, the written judgement said.

Harry and Baroness Doreen Lawrence addressed the ruling in a statement Tuesday to USA TODAY. “We came to Court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither,” the statement said.

They further allege “generic findings about various private investigators” engaging in “unlawful activity” were “wholly ignored” by the court, and say the decision to dismiss the case “represents an inconsistency which is hard to understand or reconcile with common sense, or the evidence heard in the court room itself.”

“It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected,” per the statement. “However, the lengths to which the Court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted.”

Harry and Lawrence went on to say “it feels here like one rule for the newspapers and another for the claimants,” accusing the Daily Mail journalists of giving “denials” rather than evidence. “The Court chose uncritically to believe them, even in the face of inconsistencies, contradictions and blatant untruths that were obvious to neutral observers in Court when compared to the documents.

“We presented to the Court evidence which we believed was compelling at the time and and remains so now,” the statement concludes, thanking their lawyers “and all the witnesses who were brave enough to came forward in the pursuit of justice.”

In the 463-page ruling, the judge noted that the length of time the allegations dated back to, in some cases 20-30 years, played a role in the claims being dismissed. “Put shortly, memories have faded – in some cases entirely – and many documents are no longer available,” the judge said.

The judge also noted that “suspicion is not proof” and said Harry and the other six claimants had failed to show proof that personal information had been unlawfully obtained.

Associated Newspapers welcomed the ruling, with a spokesperson telling the BBC the verdict “is a magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail’s journalism,” adding that their journalists had been “exonerated.”

Prince Harry Daily Mail trial included emotional testimony about Meghan

In January, Harry gave evidence at the lengthy trial in London, holding back tears as he shared how the publisher made wife Meghan’s life “an absolute misery” during his litigation against Associated Newspapers.

Fourteen articles published between 2001 and 2013, before he began dating Meghan, are at the center of Harry’s claim. The articles, he said, made him “paranoid beyond belief” and made him feel as though he was “part of an endless pursuit, a campaign, an obsession of having every aspect of my life under surveillance.”

Harry denied having “leaky” social circles and said his role as a member of Britain’s royal family prevented him from complaining at the time. Harry stepped back from his life as a working royal six years ago.

Harry will be alone when he hears the verdict. His wife, Meghan and their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, are no longer joining him in London and will remain at home in California. Harry’s team announced the decision over the weekend, which came after months of talks regarding security arrangements for the family.

After stepping back from royal duties in 2020, Harry’s security was downgraded and he is no longer entitled to tax-payer funded security. Harry has long argued that the threat level against himself and his family remains high, despite the fact he is no longer a working royal.

The duke is in Britain for five days of engagements and will travel to Birmingham later this week. It is unclear if Meghan and the children will join him then. On Monday, July 6, royal sources said the estranged prince would not be able to stay at Buckingham Palace after missing the deadline to respond to an accommodation offer from the king.

After London, Harry will head north to Birmingham to mark the one-year countdown for the Invictus Games, which will be hosted in the city next July. The sporting event, which Harry founded, is for wounded and sick military service personnel.

Prince Harry’s war against the tabloids

The second son of King Charles has long called out the intrusive nature of the British tabloids, accusing them of subjecting his family to ongoing harassment. In the past, Harry has openly blamed the press for hounding his late mother, Princess Diana, before and after her death and more recently his wife, Meghan.

When Harry and Meghan began dating, the British tabloids went into overdrive with incessant coverage. In 2016, Harry issued what was an unusually fierce statement from the palace at the time. In it, he called out racist and sexist media coverage of Meghan and expressed fears for her safety.

“Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton” the Daily Mail wrote in 2016, focusing on what it said was the “gang-scarred” Los Angeles home of Meghan’s mother, Doria. In 2017, the Sun apologized over a story it published in 2016 headlined, “Harry’s girl on Pornhub.”

In December 2023, Harry was awarded damages after he won 15 claims in his case accusing Mirror Group Newspapers of unlawfully gathering information for stories it published about him.

In January 2025, the publisher of the Sun newspaper apologized to Harry for “serious intrusion” between 1996 and 2011, admitting “incidents of unlawful activity” were carried out by private investigators working for the newspaper. News Group Newspapers said Harry would be paid “substantial damages.”

The publisher also apologized for distress Harry suffered as a result of “extensive coverage” and “serious intrusion” into the private life of his mother, Princess Diana.

In 2021, Meghan also took on Associated Newspapers, bringing a lawsuit over invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. The duchess won the legal case and undisclosed damages over articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on MailOnline.

Meghan filed the lawsuit after the Mail on Sunday published a series of stories in 2019 containing substantial excerpts of a personal letter Meghan hand-wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.

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