Prince Harry in London for another court fight: What is it about?

Prince Harry turned up in a London court on Monday.

Harry is among a slew of high-profile figures including singer Elton John, actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost who have brought invasion of privacy cases against British tabloids.

The hearing is expected to last four days.

Let’s take a closer look:

The case is against Associated Newspapers Ltd which publishes the Daily Mail, The Mail On Sunday, and the Mail Online, as per CNN.

The group launched the legal action last year after becoming aware of “compelling and highly distressing evidence that they have been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy” by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), according to a statement by law firm Hamlins released in October 2022.

Harry and other celebrities have accused Associated Newspapers Ltd of commissioning the engaging of unlawful acts including

• Breaking and entry into private property

• Hiring private investigators to bug homes and cars and

• Recording private phone conversations.

As per The Telegraph, the allegations also include payments being made to police officials with purported links to private investigators to gather information, false impersonation of persons to gain private medical information for hospitals, clinics and treatment centres as well as gaining access to financial records via ‘illicit means and manipulation’.

“They were the victim of numerous unlawful acts carried out by the defendant, or by those acting on the instructions of its newspapers, The Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday,” attorney David Sherborne said in a court document.

Sherborne said the allegations date back to 1993 and continue beyond 2018.

As per CNN, Harry is also suing ANL over its Mail on Sunday paper putting out a piece on his legal action against the home office over his family’s security arrangements when visiting Britain.

‘Preposterous smears’

A four-day preliminary hearing at the high court is being held from Monday and is set to include an attempt by ANL to have the claims dismissed without a trial.

Associated Newspapers has described the allegations as “preposterous smears” and a “pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal”.

An ANL spokesperson also said the allegations were “unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims, based on no credible evidence”.

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The publisher said the claims are too old to be brought now and should also be thrown out because they rely on information the newspapers turned over in confidentiality for a 2012 probe into media law breaking.

“It would be law-breakingsurprising indeed for any reasonably informed member of the public, let alone a figure in the public eye, to have been unaware of these matters,” attorney Adrian Beltrami said in writing.

Britain’s phone hacking scandal, which first blew up in 2006, saw journalists at the News of the World hack into the voicemails of royals, celebrities and murder victims.

Britain held a year-long inquiry into press ethics after revelations in 2011 that News of the World tabloid employees eavesdropped on the mobile phone voicemails of celebrities, politicians and a teenage murder victim.

Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the newspaper amid a criminal investigation and public uproar. Several journalists were convicted, and Murdoch’s company paid millions in damages to dozens of hacking victims.

In the inquiry’s 2012 report, Lord Justice Brian Leveson said “outrageous” behaviour by some in the press had “wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained.”

Judge Matthew Nicklin, who is hearing the current eavesdropping case, is also overseeing a separate libel lawsuit Harry brought against Associated Newspapers over an article about his quest for police protection when he and his family visit the UK.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, and his wife, the former actress Meghan Markle, stepped down as working royals in 2020 and moved to the US, citing what they described as the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.

Harry has said he wants to make reforming the British media his life’s work.

Harry’s presence at the High Court in London is a sign of the importance he attaches to the case, one of several lawsuits the Duke of Sussex has brought against the media.

Sky correspondent Katie Spencer said: “Absolutely nobody was expecting this because really there is no need for Prince Harry to be appearing in court this week.

“I tried to put a question to him about why he was here today and he ignored me pretty much and just said ‘good morning’.

“The first signs we got that he may be turning up were barriers went up outside and a couple of police vans turned up.”

She added: “The prince has spoken about the fact that he wants to make this his life’s work - that there are people who should be held accountable for violating his and his family’s privacy.

“He’s here today, he wants the world to know he is very serious about this, and he wants this to go to trial.”

He fumed at the UK media throughout his memoir “Spare,” published in January. He blamed an overly aggressive press for the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, and also accused the media of hounding Meghan.

The couple has turned to British courts to combat what they see as media mistreatment.

In December 2021, Meghan won an invasion-of-privacy case against Associated Newspapers over the Mail on Sunday’s publication of a letter she wrote to her estranged father.

Harry is also suing the publisher of another tabloid, the Mirror, in a separate hacking suit.

With inputs from agencies

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