Prince Harry-Daily Mail trial live: Duke begins giving evidence against newspaper publisher – UK Times

The Duke of Sussex has stepped into the witness box to give evidence in his legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail.

Wearing a dark suit and striped tie, Harry swore on the Bible while taking the oath.

Harry is expected to give evidence for a day, with Antony White KC, for Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), cross-examining him before his barrister, David Sherborne, asks him some questions.

The Duke of Sussex has been seen arriving at the High Court alongside his legal team.

Prince Harry is due to begin giving evidence at 11.30am.

Earlier, a source close to his team accused Associated Newspapers Limited of “dirty tricks” after they finished their opening submissions a day earlier than expected.

Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish are two of the seven claimants suing the Daily Mail publisher, with the couple alleging that10 articles about them between 2002 and 2015 were based on unlawful information gathering by ANL.

In written submissions by barrister David Sherborne, he said of Sir Elton and Furnish: “They feel that their home, and the safety of their children and loved ones, has been violated.

“Mr Furnish explains that they are ‘profoundly affected by the uncertainty of not knowing how many times we were targeted… We still don’t know what was really done to us’.

“They are horrified that Associated has used their friendships against them by stealing information through those friends, which Sir Elton describes as ‘the exploitation of love, connection, trust and bonds to find out information shared in confidence’.

“Both Sir Elton and Mr Furnish underline the outrage they feel in light of Associated’s invasion into medical details surrounding the birth of their son Zachary, and the stealing of their son’s birth certificate ‘before we even had a chance to see it ourselves’.”

One of the 10 articles that Sir Elton and Furnish claim featured unlawfully gathered information included one published in the Mail On Sunday in May 2007, written by Katie Nicholl, which was headlined “Princes and Palace clash on ‘all-night’ Diana Party”.

Mr Sherborne said in written submissions that the piece contained “exclusive information relating to tensions in the royal household” over plans to hold an event after a memorial concert for Diana, Princess of Wales, which Harry and the now-Prince of Wales hoped that Sir Elton would attend.

A source close to the Duke of Sussex’s claim said: “ANL, publishers of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, and their legal team, have had months to inform the court that their opening argument would last less than two hours, instead, they have had to resort to game playing and dirty tricks – consistent with the way they have treated not just the duke but all of the victims in this case.”

The source continued: “They think that by pulling the schedule forward 24 hours they are giving Prince Harry less time to prepare – he’s been preparing for this moment for the last three years.

“Safe to say, he’s ready.”

The celebrities who claim the Daily Mail’s publisher engaged in unlawful information gathering had “leaky” social circles, a court has been told.

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) said disclosures to the press about the private life of the Duke of Sussex in particular were “a not uncommon occurrence”.

The publisher’s lawyer, Antony White KC, told the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday: “The reality is that the social circles of the celebrity claimants, ie all the claimants bar Baroness (Doreen) Lawrence and Sir Simon Hughes, were ‘leaky’ and their friends, and friends of friends, or associates, did regularly provide information to the press about the claimants’ private lives, for obvious reasons on a confidential basis.”

Mr White said: “At all material times, the Duke of Sussex’s social circle was, and was known to be, a good source of leaks or disclosure of information to the media about what he got up to in his private life.”

Mr White later said Harry also discussed his private life in the media, and information about his life was also provided by palace spokespeople.

The Duke of Sussex feels like he has faced a “sustained campaign of attacks” because he “had the temerity to stand up to” the Daily Mail’s publisher, the High Court was told on Tuesday.

Summarising part of the duke’s written evidence at the start of the hearing, his barrister David Sherborne said that Harry had detailed the “distress” and “paranoia” he had been caused.

Mr Sherborne continued: “But given what we’ve seen, is it any wonder that he feels that way, or as he explains, that he feels he has endured a sustained campaign of attacks against him for having had the temerity to stand up to Associated in the way that he has so publicly done.”

Mr Sherborne told the court the articles, written between 2001 and 2013, “focus primarily and in a highly intrusive and damaging way, on the relationships which he formed, or rather tried to form, during those years prior to meeting his now wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex”.

He continued: “Tracking his movements and those around him, as we see, with the potentially serious security implications, which go without saying.”

In court on Tuesday, Antony White KC, for ANL, said the claims against the company were “threadbare” and had been brought too late.

He continued that its journalists provide a “compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing” of the more than 50 articles that are alleged to be the products of unlawful information gathering.

Mr White also told the court that payments to private investigators by journalists, cited by the claimants, were “examples of clutching at straws in the wind and seeking to bind them together in a way that has no proper analytical foundation”.

He added that claims made in a “disavowed” witness statement allegedly given by one private investigator named in the case, Gavin Burrows, including that he received large sums of money from the publisher, were “inherently implausible”.

The barrister said: “Associated is not a corner shop. It is audited. Auditors usually do not miss the haemorrhaging of large amounts of cash of this size.”

In written submissions, Mr White said the publisher “strongly denies” that there was any unlawful information gathering, including voicemail interception, directed at the duke.

The Duke of Sussex is among seven prominent individuals initiating legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail, with a nine-week trial commencing on Monday.

After the case first began in 2022, here is a timeline of the group’s claim against Associated Newspapers Limited:

Prince Harry is set to begin giving evidence in the High Court trial of his legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail on Wednesday.

Harry, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, politician Sir Simon Hughes, and actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley are all bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

The Duke of Sussex attended court on Monday and the start of proceedings on Tuesday, but was seen leaving the Royal Courts of Justice in London during the lunch break.

He was scheduled to give evidence on Thursday, but opening submissions for the claimants and ANL concluded earlier than expected on Tuesday.

The trial will resume at 10.30am, with Harry expected to arrive at court at 11am and give evidence at around 11.30am.