Prince Harry‘s lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid newspapers — the royal’s latest in his ongoing war against the U.K. press — is set to begin.
Opening arguments are due to take place in London’s High Court today, with the Duke of Sussex’ high-stakes and historic trial against News Group Newspapers (NGN) expected to last six to eight weeks.
Prince Harry is suing NGN over alleged activities carried out by both journalists and private investigators working for “The Sun” and the now-defunct “The News of the World” from 1996 until 2011. Among the accusations are issues such as phone hacking and unlawful information gathering, while the trial will also assess whether senior figures at the papers knew what was happening and withheld evidence.
The trial comes after NGN settled cases with around 40 other high profile individuals, including Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, and in total paid out more than $1.5 billion. Prince Harry — and former U.K. politician Tom Watson (who also accuses NGN of hacking and whose case is part of the trial) — is the only remaining claimant.
While in 2011 NGN apologized to victims of phone hacking that took place at The News of the World, which Murdoch shut down that year, it has never admitted to any of the claims made against The Sun.
“One of the reasons why I brought the claim . . . is specifically for truth and accountability,” Harry told The New York Times DealBook Summit last month. “There is no justice for any of the claimants.”
The trial should see Harry once again take to witness box, potentially over several days. In 2023 he became the first senior royal in more than 100 years to give evidence in court when he testified in a similar trial involving Mirror Group Newspapers. The Duke — alongside other claimants — won that case and damages of more than $170,000.
