What Prince Harry’s lawsuits against British tabloids are about

Since 2019, Harry and Meghan have filed at least seven lawsuits against British and US media organisations to hold them to account for what they claim are breaches of privacy, unlawful practices and false stories about him and his family, according to Reuters.

The couple cited media intrusion as one of the many reasons for stepping back from the Royal Family and moving to California in 2020.

What is the current trial about?

The current trial involves Harry and other plaintiffs (actor Michael Le Vell, actress Nikki Sanderson, and Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of the comedian Paul Whitehouse) who have alleged that journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspapers obtained private and confidential information about their lives through a variety of illegal means, between 1991 and 2011, the BBC reported.

Primarily, they have accused journalists to have exploited a security loophole (now closed) in mobile phones to obtain their “targets’” voicemails which they used to write a number of objectionable stories about their personal lives. These tabloids also allegedly hired private investigators to “trick” people into divulging all kinds of confidential information – from medical records to financial details.

As per the BBC, the claimants have argued that there was ostensibly “no justifiable public interest” behind their targeting, which was done for purely “commercial reasons”.

Harry has extensively written about the mental trauma he has undergone due to British tabloid coverage in his recent autobiographical work Spare. He has submitted around 140 articles to the court which he claims were written using illicitly obtained information.

What is the evidence?

According to the BBC, at the heart of the trial will be 207 newspaper stories published between 1991 and 2011. The claimants have argued that not only did journalists use illicit means to gather information for these stories, senior executives must have had knowledge about it and either failed to stop their subordinates or were actively in support of their methods.

One of the key allegations in the case is that the TV presenter Piers Morgan, editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004, knew of illegal activity.

Harry’s lawyers have said that they have evidence to show that not only did Morgan – who was notoriously obsessed with Harry and Meghan at the time of their falling out with the royal family – know about the hacking, he told others about it too. Morgan has repeatedly dismissed these claims but this is the first time that a court will rule on the matter.

What has Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) said on the matter?

In 2015, MGN, the parent company of the three accused newspapers, admitted to phone hacking taking place in a different case and issued a public apology. Over the years, it has settled hundreds of claims of misdoing by its journalists. According to the BBC, MGN has set aside £28 million to deal with hacking allegations.

However, a crucial plank of MGN’s defence has been that while journalists did commit wrongdoing, pin cannot be blamed on senior executives who were purposefully kept in the dark.

On Wednesday, MGN admitted to unlawfully gathering information on Prince Harry but denied hacking his phone, AP reported. MGN said in court documents that the Duke of Sussex was entitled to “appropriate compensation” after accepting that a private investigator was hired to unlawfully gather information about his activities at the Chinawhite nightclub one night in February 2004.

Andrew Green, the barrister representing the newspapers, has also said that some of the challenges have been brought beyond a legal time limit.

What are the other lawsuits filed by Harry?

This is not the only lawsuit Harry has filed against British tabloids.

He is suing Rupert Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun, for alleged hacking as well. NGN’s lawyers are trying to have the case thrown out arguing the time to bring the charges to court has run out.

The other lawsuit is against the publisher of The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, and involves other plaintiffs, including singer Elton John and actresses Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley. The allegations are similar, including phone tapping and illegally obtaining information.

Why is the royal family concerned about Harry’s lawsuits?

All three of the lawsuits are set to be resolved by the end of the year and have the royal family on tenterhooks. The royal family is especially concerned about Prince Harry’s testimony in court.

A friend of Prince William told The Daily Beast: “I think the family know he could say anything and no one is looking forward to it.”

In an April legal filing for the NGN case, Harry revealed that NGN paid his brother and heir to the British throne, William, a “huge sum of money” in 2020 to settle claims that its journalists hacked his cellphone. The payment was part of a “secret agreement” between the publisher and the royal family, to avoid an embarrassing court spectacle.