Prince Harry Returns to Court for Privacy Case Against Daily Mail

Prince Harry's Legal Battle

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Prince Harry is expected in the witness box at the High Court in London on Wednesday to give evidence in his privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, the British royal's second such court appearance in three years.

Background of the Case

The Duke of Sussex, 41, and six other claimants including singer Elton John are suing the Mail's publisher Associated Newspapers for violations of their privacy from the early 1990s until the early 2010s.

Key Claimants and Allegations

Associated has called the allegations "preposterous smears", saying their journalists had legitimate sources for information, including from the celebrities' friends and acquaintances.

Associated Newspapers' Defense

Having become in 2023 the first royal in 130 years to give evidence in court during another of his lawsuits against the press, the younger son of King Charles is now due to be the initial witness in the case against Associated.

His testimony had not been expected until Thursday but is now likely to begin on Wednesday, possibly after lunch.

The prince's case centres on 14 articles his lawyers say were the product of unlawful information gathering, including by hacking voicemail messages, bugging landlines and obtaining private information by deception, known as "blagging".

Associated, however, says Harry's social circle was known to be "leaky" and that some articles were based on public statements issued by royal press officers.

HARRY RETURNS TO WITNESS BOX

Harry and the other claimants launched their legal action against the publisher of the influential Daily Mail in 2022, for the first time dragging Associated's titles into the phone hacking scandal that had long dogged the British press.

The others involved are Elton John's husband David Furnish, actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence and former lawmaker Simon Hughes, who will all give evidence during the nine-week trial.

Their lawyer David Sherborne said on Monday there was "clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering" at the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

Associated's lawyers, however, say its current and former journalists will come to court to give evidence and present "a compelling account of a pattern of legitimate sourcing".

For Harry, who has long blamed the press for the death of his mother Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 as her vehicle sped away from paparazzi, the trial is the final instalment of his legal war on the British tabloids.

He has already successfully sued Mirror Group Newspapers, when he also gave evidence in person, and won an apology and admission of some wrongdoing by Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm, which settled ahead of a trial a year ago.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Michael Holden; editing by Mark Heinrich)