There is more bad news for Prince Harry after losing his final court case against the British tabloids overnight, with reports he might have to chip in to help cover legal costs.
On Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex lost his case against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, over alleged unlawful information gathering. In a strongly worded statement, he and his six fellow claimants labelled the case “shocking” and “a complete and obvious whitewash”.
Prince Harry has lost his final court case against the British tabloids. Getty Images
Now, the group – which also includes Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley – could find themselves liable to cover the media outlet’s court costs, which total about $96 million.
Harry, who arrived in the UK earlier this week, heard the court’s decision during an appearance at an Invictus Games event in London.
Following the verdict and the claimants’ statement, Associated Newspapers has since released its own.
“Associated Newspapers thanks Mr Justice Nicklin for the patience and wisdom he has displayed throughout this misguided legal action, which has wasted so much valuable court time and more than £50 million in legal costs,” it said.
A subsequent court hearing is scheduled to take place on July 29 and 30.
This trial, which began in January 2026, involved claims of privacy breaches, including phone tapping and the hiring of private investigators, and was marked by Harry’s tearful testimony in the witness box.
While the duke won the previous cases he brought against the tabloids, ITV Royal Editor Chris Ship said, “This was one he really wanted to win”.
“Today, he put on the bravest of faces… but this must have hurt, losing against, of all tabloids, the publishers of the Daily Mail,” Ship said after the verdict.
“It hurts him not only financially… but also his pride.”
The verdict was announced during Harry’s first official event in London for his Invictus Games Foundation. Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images
‘A complete whitewash’
Having successfully resolved two of the three cases, it’s clear from the Duke of Sussex’s statement he expected another win on Tuesday – but that wasn’t to be.
The claimants in the high-profile case, including Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, had brought privacy lawsuits alleging the publishers of Daily Mail used unlawful information gathering for dozens of stories.
But Justice Matthew Nicklin dismissed the claims, saying there was a shortage of evidence to support the claims and finding a possibility the news stories came from legitimate sources.
Harry said he and the other claimants came to court seeking justice and accountability but received neither.
“This judgment represents a complete reversal of the position which previous judges have taken in relation to the hacking claims successfully brought against both News Group Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers (who were represented by, at the time, the Judge who made this decision),” he said in a joint statement with Lawrence.
“Generic findings about various private investigators that were held by the Courts in these parallel claims to have carried out unlawful activity at the very same time in relation to similar stories and well-known individuals have been wholly ignored.
“The fact that this court has chosen to dismiss them represents an inconsistency which is hard to understand or reconcile with common sense, or the evidence heard in the court room itself.
“It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected. However, the lengths to which the court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted.”
“It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected.” AP
Inside the 436-page ruling
After a big win in his 2023 phone-hacking court case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) and receiving “substantial damages” in a settlement with News Group Newspapers in 2025, the Duke of Sussex didn’t say whether he would appeal the loss in the third case.
The royal and other celebrities all accused Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) of tapping their phones, intercepting voicemails and obtaining personal information through deception between 1993 and 2011. All allegations the newspapers denied.
Nicklin said in a written 436-page ruling that the claims were all dismissed after the claimants failed to prove the allegations of unlawful news-gathering across the more than 50 articles submitted.
“In substance, the claimants’ case invites the court to conclude that, because the information was private and because Associated cannot positively explain how it was sourced, the article must have been unlawfully sourced,” Nicklin wrote.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence (right) was one of the claimants in the case. Getty Images
“That is not a permissible approach.”
Harry and Lawrence responded in their statement with disbelief.
“It feels here like one rule for the newspapers and another for the claimants,” they said.
Elizabeth Hurley was also part of the group that brought the legal action. AP
“While the claimants presented evidence, Mail journalists simply gave denials, and the court chose uncritically to believe them, even in the face of inconsistencies, contradictions and blatant untruths that were obvious to neutral observers in court when compared to the documents.
“We presented to the court evidence which we believed was compelling at the time and remains so now.”
ANL said the ruling following the 11-week trial – estimated to amount to about £50 million ($96.4 million) in legal costs – was an “overwhelming victory” for both the publication and its journalists.
Editor-in-Chief of ANL Paul Dacre didn’t hold back in his own statement about the verdict, while pointing to Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare as double standards.
“There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family,” Dacre said in a statement.
“For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin.”
Harry attend the UK Premiere of documentary Shoot The People to support friend and photographer Misan Harriman (second right). Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/WireImage
Keeping calm and carrying on
The verdict in Prince Harry’s High Court battle against the British tabloids was announced as his first official event in London – addressing an audience about his Invictus Games Foundation – got under way.
Prince Harry, who was reportedly told the decision in advance of it being publicly announced, didn’t seem to let the loss impact his mood.
“He’s really happy to be back in the UK and really looking forward to the week’s engagements,” Prince Harry’s spokesperson told People magazine on Tuesday, adding that the royal “was in good form last night” at an event just hours after his arrival.
The father-of-two landed solo in London on Monday afternoon, after plans to bring along wife Meghan and their two kids Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet fell through at the 11th hour over security concerns.
After landing and dropping off his bags somewhere other than Buckingham Palace, the Duke of Sussex went straight to a movie premiere in central London.
While star-studded Christopher Nolan film The Odyssey had its premiere in Leicester Square, that’s not where Harry was spotted. He was around the corner.
Harriman captured the photo used by the couple for their pregnancy announcement in 2021. Misan Harriman/The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
The royal attended the UK premiere for documentary Shoot the People at Picturehouse Central in Soho, supporting his and Meghan’s friend photographer Misan Harriman.
The photographer and filmmaker was the man behind the lens of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s second pregnancy announcement in 2021, four months before Princess Lilibet’s birth.
Harriman also accompanied the Duke and Duchess on their tour of Nigeria in May 2024.
On Tuesday, Prince Harry kicked off his official engagements at Chatham House in St James, London – a stone’s throw away from Buckingham Palace.
The Duke of Sussex’s team claimed on Monday that he’d been offered an invitation to stay at the royal residence during his visit, before the invitation was withdrawn.
These claims have been denied by the palace, who suggested Harry declined the offer before changing his mind, leaving not enough notice to adequately staff the facility.
“The King was being tested beyond endurance,” a royal aide reportedly told UK newspaper The Sun over the accommodation claims.
Archie and Lilibet were set to meet with their grandpa King Charles for the first time in four years. Instagram/meghan
As a result of security concerns of a heightened threat to the family in London, coupled with the inability to stay in a royal residence, Prince Harry and Meghan made the decision not to head over to the UK together, as planned, following a family holiday in Europe over the past week.
Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, were set to meet with their grandpa King Charles for the first time in four years while making the trip to support the Duke of Sussex’s Invictus Games initiative.
The family were supposed to go to Birmingham for the “one year to go” event ahead of the 2027 event for injured, wounded or ill servicemen and women.
Prince Harry is now set to attend all of his engagements solo.