Prince Harry has suffered a fresh legal setback after London's High Court dismissed his privacy case against the publisher of the Daily Mail.
The Duke of Sussex, who is currently in the UK, was among a group of high-profile claimants, including Elton John, who accused Associated Newspapers of unlawfully obtaining private information for stories published in the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday between the 1990s and 2011.
Prince Harry has pursued a number of legal actions against the British press over the years, arguing that sections of the media have repeatedly crossed legal and ethical boundaries. He has also spoken publicly about blaming intrusive press coverage for contributing to the circumstances surrounding the 1997 Paris crash that claimed the life of his mother, Princess Diana.
During the trial in January, Harry became emotional while giving evidence, telling the court that media coverage had made life "an absolute misery" for his wife, Meghan Markle. He previously secured a victory against the publisher of the Daily Mirror and reached a settlement with Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group, making this latest ruling a notable defeat in his ongoing legal battle with the press.
In Tuesday's decision, Judge Matthew Nicklin ruled that the claimants had failed to prove the disputed articles were based on information obtained through unlawful means. He said that suspicion alone was not enough to establish wrongdoing.
According to the court's summary, the judge rejected the argument that private information must have been obtained unlawfully simply because Associated Newspapers could not fully explain how it had been sourced.
Associated Newspapers welcomed the ruling, describing it as "an overwhelming victory" for the publisher and its journalists, while maintaining that the allegations against the company were without merit.
