Prince Harry has arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for the second day of his bitter legal battle with Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
The Duke of Sussex is one of seven prominent figures bringing the case, alongside Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, actress Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes.
The group claims ANL either directly carried out or commissioned illegal practices, including installing listening devices in vehicles, obtaining private records through deception, and intercepting telephone conversations.
ANL has rejected all allegations against it.
Prince Harry has arrived at the High Court in London for the second day of his bitter legal battle with Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
|
GETTY
All seven claimants are expected to give evidence during the proceedings, with Prince Harry scheduled to take the witness stand on Thursday.
On Monday, the royal’s barrister, David Sherborne, outlined in written submissions that the Duke’s case concerns “misuse of private information in relation to each of the 14 unlawful articles,” which appeared predominantly in the Mail on Sunday’s Diary column alongside pieces in the Daily Mail.
The duke’s legal team contends that the alleged unlawful gathering of information has caused substantial harm to Harry’s closest relationships.
In his written submissions on behalf of Harry and others, barrister Sherborne said: “The fact that information concerning him, when misused, is inherently likely to have, and in fact has had, a profoundly negative impact on his personal relationships, especially with those of his associates involved in the relevant story, and private life, given his status and the interest of the public, as opposed to in the public interest, which is clearly distinguishable, in stories of almost any quality concerning him.
The Duke of Sussex is one of seven prominent figures bringing the case, alongside Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, actress Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes.
|
GETTY
In further written submissions, Harry said: “I find it deeply troubling that Associated used phrases such as ‘sources’, ‘friends” and the like as a device to hide unlawful information gathering.”
Beyond affecting his relationships, Sherborne maintained that the alleged conduct disturbed the duke’s “own peace of mind,” given the intense public fascination with virtually any story concerning him.
The barrister stated there was “no meritorious public interest in the information so obtained, still less in obtaining it by unlawful information gathering as the journalists and Associated did.”
The duke’s legal submissions further argued that Harry held a reasonable expectation that personal details gathered about him would remain confidential.
Associated Newspapers “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at Prince Harry or his associates.
|
PA
Associated Newspapers “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at Prince Harry or his associates.
Antony White KC said in written submissions that the articles in the case “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”.
He added: “At all material times, the Duke of Sussex’s social circle was and was known to be a good source of leaks or disclosure of information to the media about what he got up to in his private life.”
Mr White later said that Harry also discussed his private life in the media, and information about his life was also provided by Palace spokespeople.