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A lawsuit filed by Prince Harry and five high-profile public figures in Britain against one of the country's largest news corporations shows he's become "a key player" in the fight for privacy and "holding the press to account," a media attorney told Newsweek.
The prince is a plaintiff in a new lawsuit announced on Thursday that alleges media giant Associated Newspapers, which owns and operates titles such as The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, have committed "unlawful acts," including hiring individuals to bug people's cars and record private telephone calls.
According to a press release sent out on behalf of the six plaintiffs, including Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and David Furnish; Elizabeth Hurley; and Sadie Frost, the suit also alleges that Associated Newspapers paid police officials for inside information, impersonated medical professionals to obtain medical information and accessed financial records through illicit means and manipulation.
"These individuals have been the subject of public interest during the course of their careers and personal lives," the press release from Hamlins law firm said.
"They are united in their desire to live in a world where the press operates freely, yet responsibly. A press that represents truth, is sourced in fact and can be trusted to operate ethically and in the interests of the British public."
Associated Newspapers issued a strong denial of the allegations made in the suit, calling them "preposterous smears."
"We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears which appear to be nothing more than a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old," a group spokesperson said on Thursday.
"These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims—based on no credible evidence—appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers, some of whom have already pursued cases elsewhere."
While no allegations of phone-hacking specifically (which involves the accessing of voicemails) have been made there are distinct parallels between this legal action and that which brought about Britain's Leveson inquiry in 2012 which focussed on press practices and ethics in the wake of phone-hacking exposure at another major U.K. newsgroup.
While Associated Newspapers came out of the Leveson inquiry relatively unscathed, this new legal action has reopened the debate around press ethics.
Though the Hamlins' press release does not state how the alleged claims specifically relate to Prince Harry, the action compounds his previous and ongoing legal disputes against Associated Newspapers.
"This is another round in the ongoing legal claims that Prince Harry, the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex have sought to bring against, particularly, Associated Newspapers to protect their privacy," Will Charlesworth, deputy head of commercial litigation at Saunders Law told Newsweek.
"In February this year, the duke brought a claim against Associated Newspapers in respect of an article about his legal battle with the Home Office and he's been successful in an initial ruling in that ongoing case. And obviously not forgetting that the Duchess won her legal fight against The Mail on Sunday over the publication of a letter that she sent to her father which involved issues of privacy."
Since stepping down from his role as a working royal in 2020 and moving to the U.S. with his young family, Harry has launched a number of legal battles and has spoken critically about the press and media attention he has faced during his life.
"It appears that the Duke of Sussex has stepped into the limelight and from his recent actions is keen to hold the press to account in respect to their actions," said Charlesworth. "Understanding the history of his family and the press coverage that followed his mother, it is understandable where that's coming from."
"I think recently, the duke has been more willing to become a key player in taking that fight for privacy forward and holding the press to account," Charlesworth said.
This "holding to account" is a key theme that comes through in the claimant's press release.
"What I suspect the [plaintiffs] are wanting to do," said Charlesworth, "particularly from the wording of their press release, is to hold the press to account. That would be in a public way in a public forum. There's also the potential of punishing them in a financial way as well in terms of damages."
On the potential outcomes of this lawsuit, if Associated Newspapers is proven to have acted unlawfully, Charlesworth said that it is likely to contribute to a much larger discussion around the freedom of the press.
"Inevitably there is going to be further discussion around regulation of the press," he said.
"This will form part of the ongoing discussion of the balancing act between privacy and freedom of expression. But, in this case, it appears that it goes far beyond anything you could say was freedom of expression, if it is true, and amounts to illegality on a criminal and a civil basis as well."
Newsweek reached out to representatives of Prince Harry for comment.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more