Prince Harry returns to UK as newspaper court ruling looms

Prince Harry returned to the United Kingdom for a five-day round of charity engagements, with judgment due on Tuesday in his High Court case against Associated Newspapers Limited, a dispute that has run for more than three years. His first stop was an Invictus Games event in London as the legal fight over allegations of unlawful information gathering reached its final stage.

The case is one of seven brought at the High Court by Harry and six other claimants. They launched the action in October 2022 against Associated, the publisher of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, alleging a pattern of unlawful newsgathering between 1993 and 2011 that included voicemail hacking, tapping phones, bugging homes or cars, using private investigators and obtaining information by deception.

The trial in London ended on March 31 after 10 weeks of hearings, and Judge Matthew Nicklin said at the close that he would take months to consider the evidence. A 2025 case-management ruling had already narrowed the claimants’ case, keeping the focus on specific articles and journalists rather than what the court described as a wide-ranging public inquiry into Associated’s practices over 25 years.

Associated Newspapers has denied all wrongdoing and called the allegations “preposterous smears.” Its lawyers have argued that the claims are time-barred under the six-year limitation period. The dispute follows Harry’s earlier phone-hacking victory against Mirror Group Newspapers, where he won substantial damages. The allegations cover more than 50 articles written between 1993 and 2011, including 14 tied to Harry, and the legal bill could reach tens of millions of pounds.