Prince Harry is facing a loss in court.
The 41-year-old Duke of Sussex lost the privacy case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail, as of Tuesday (July 7).
The claims of unlawfully gathering personal information for stories between 1993 and 2011 were dismissed by U.K. High Court judge Matthew Nicklin.
“The court rejected the argument that, simply because information was private, and because Associated could not positively explain how it had been sourced, the relevant article must have been unlawfully sourced,” the judge said in his summary, via CNN.
“The allegations were extremely serious. Yet… they were not consistently anchored to identified statements which were put to the relevant witness as deliberate falsehoods…in significant respects the case shifted from the pleaded allegation of lies to broader criticisms of Associated’s inquiries, disclosure and corporate response to the Leveson Inquiry. This is not how allegations of this seriousness should be advanced,” the judge also wrote, per Variety.
“In assessing Prince Harry’s evidence overall, it was apparent that he wished the Court to understand the personal impact of the matters in issue. At times, this led him beyond giving factual evidence into advancing arguments on the issues…Overall, this did not affect the quality of Prince Harry’s evidence, which I accept. As with each of the Claimants, Prince Harry has limited evidence to give on the contentious matters in dispute.”
Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Elton John and David Furness were among the group suing the publisher.
The suit alleged there was phone tapping and bugged houses and cars involved for gathering details for stories, which Associated Newspapers denied.
Prince Harry got emotional while providing testimony in the case earlier this year.
The news comes at the same time as Harry makes a trip to the UK. The Palace apparently offered him an invitation to stay at a royal residence while in town, and there’s some dispute about why the offer was withdrawn.
