Prince Harry is poised to receive a judgment in his high-profile legal claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of the Daily Mail, over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
The Duke of Sussex is among several prominent individuals, including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John, and his husband David Furnish, who sued ANL.
Their claims, heard during an 11-week trial in London, allege that private investigators, freelance journalists, and ANL staff engaged in voicemail interception, landline tapping, and obtaining information by deception.
Associated Newspapers Limited has strongly denied the claims and any wrongdoing.
Mr Justice Nicklin is set to deliver his ruling at 2pm on Tuesday.
This particular case forms part of a series of legal challenges involving the Duke in recent years, which also encompasses a libel claim brought against him by a charity he co-founded.
Here is a look at the recent legal cases involving Harry.
Unlawful information gathering
Harry is suing ANL over 14 articles between 2001 and 2013.
Giving evidence in January, he told the High Court in a witness statement that he was “determined to hold Associated accountable” and that he did not see “why Associated should get away with something they have covered up and lied about for however many years”.
He also said in his written evidence that “knowingly false” information was added to stories to “put me off the scent”, to conceal unlawful methods, including voicemail interception.
In court, Harry appeared on the verge of tears as he said that the publisher had “made my wife’s life an absolute misery”, and that it continued to “come after me”.
In written submissions, Mr White said the publisher “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at the duke.
He continued that the articles “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”.
Charity libel case
The duke is currently being sued for defamation by Sentebale, with which he had worked for 19 years before stepping down as one of its patrons.
The duke, who is being sued alongside former trustee Mark Dyer, stood down in support of a group of trustees, who themselves resigned after a dispute with the board of trustees chairwoman, Dr Sophie Chandauka.
Sentebale’s board of trustees claims that Harry co-ordinated an “adverse media campaign” which caused “operational disruption and reputational harm”, and has asked for the court’s “protection”.
The duke has rejected the “offensive and damaging” claim.
News Group Newspapers settlement
In January 2025, the duke settled a claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes The Sun and published the now-defunct News Of The World.
Harry, who was taking legal action alongside former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson, alleged he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for the publisher.
Shortly before an up-to-10-week trial was due to begin in January 2025, the duke and NGN reached an agreement including a “full and unequivocal apology” and “substantial” damages.
NGN apologised to Harry for intrusion between 1996 and 2011, including “incidents of unlawful activities” by private investigators working for The Sun.
The publisher also apologised to the duke for phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators at the News of the World, which closed in 2011.
It also apologised for the impact of the “serious intrusion” into the private life of Harry’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Home Office security challenge
In 2024, Harry lost a High Court claim against the Home Office over security arrangements for himself and his family when they are in the UK.
He challenged a February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which falls under the remit of the department, after being told he would no longer be given the “same degree” of personal protective security when visiting.
Harry’s lawyers said he was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” in the decision, while the Government argued Ravec was entitled to conclude the duke’s protection should be “bespoke” and considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
Retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled that Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair, claiming Harry’s lawyers had taken “an inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the Ravec process”.
In May last year, the duke lost a challenge against the ruling, with the Court of Appeal finding that it was “impossible to say that (Ravec’s) reasoning was illogical or inappropriate”.
In December, the Sun reported that the duke’s security arrangements were being reviewed.
Libel claim against ANL
Harry also sued ANL over a February 2022 Mail on Sunday article about the challenge against the Home Office.
The duke’s lawyers claimed the story “purported to reveal, in sensational terms”, that information from court documents “contradicted public statements he had previously made about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family whilst in the UK”.
ANL contested the claim, arguing the article expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause “serious harm” to his reputation.
Harry withdrew the claim in January 2024, with a spokesperson claiming that the duke did not want to “give a continued platform to the Mail’s false claims”.
Legal battle with Mirror Group Newspapers
The duke also sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, claiming journalists at its publications were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” – gaining information by deception – and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
In December 2023, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that phone hacking became “widespread and habitual” at MGN titles in the late 1990s and that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN, awarding him £140,600 in damages.
In February 2024, the duke then settled the remainder of his claim, with the publisher agreeing to pay him a “substantial additional sum” in damages, as well as all of the costs of his claim.
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