Prince Harry’s final lawsuit aimed at taming the British tabloids ended in defeat on Tuesday as a judge found he failed to prove his privacy invasion claims against the publisher of the Daily Mail.
Justice Matthew Nicklin rejected the broad inferences the Duke of Sussex had relied on to try to show that Associated Newspapers had engaged in unlawful activities. The judge said there was a realistic possibility the news came from legitimate sources.
The ruling scuttles the lawsuits filed by Harry and six others, including singer Elton John and actor-model Elizabeth Hurley, which sought substantial damages and where the legal costs for years of preparation and an 11-week trial were estimated at about £40 million (US$53.5 million).
The publisher called it an “overwhelming victory” and a “magnificent vindication” of Mail’s journalism.
The case was the third and final of Harry’s lawsuits accusing tabloid publishers of using unlawful tactics, such as phone hacking, or hiring private detectives to dig up dirt to snoop on his life.
It was “disturbing to feel that my every move, thought or feeling was being tracked and monitored just for the Mail to make money out of it”, Harry said, in legal filings.