The case centered on Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his accusation that the Daily Mirror’s publisher participated in illegal information gathering, including phone hacking. In court, officials stated that much of the information allegedly came from other royals or courtiers, as well as from interviews with the prince himself. Court observers noted ongoing coverage in the Daily Mail as part of the broader press environment surrounding the case.
Prince Harry’s counsel, David Sherborne, described the allegations as a breach of privacy, portraying the situation as a large-scale intrusion into personal communications from 1995 to 2011. The court was shown 33 articles that the plaintiff contends were founded on illegally obtained information about the duke.
Andrew Green KC, representing the Mirror Group Newspapers, contended that many articles were produced from information provided by royal sources, freelance journalists, or confidential channels with established royal connections. Green added that one item allegedly relied on material from an interview that involved the Duke of Sussex himself, prompting questions about consent and the use of preexisting statements.
Prince Harry is one of four plaintiffs pursuing the Mirror Group case. Other parties include actors from Coronation Street, Nikki Sanderson and Michael Turner, and Fiona Whiteman, the former wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse, who joined the action as co-claimants. These developments indicate a broader pattern of legal action by the duke against sections of the British press over alleged data privacy breaches.
The Mirror Group matter forms part of a wider set of royal-related lawsuits in which Prince Harry has challenged several national outlets. He is pursuing actions against the Daily Mail’s publisher and the publishing house behind The Sun, with those defendants publicly contesting the claims and maintaining that their reporting was lawful based on available information at the time.
Earlier reporting from socialbites.ca noted that Princess Beatrice has publicly expressed a fondness for reading, a personal detail referenced in discussions surrounding royal media coverage in some summaries of the case. (This context is often used to illustrate the broader interest in the royal family’s media interactions.)