Prince Harry’s civil case against the Daily Mirror begins just after the coronation, but Harry reportedly will not have to be back in London to testify until June, probably early June. Harry is also in the middle of suing the Mail in like three different cases. Add to that, he also has ongoing cases against Rupert Murdoch’s press outlets in the UK. As the Guardian notes: “the only national newspaper owners he is not suing are those of the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and the Financial Times.” LOL. I love him so much. Anyway, the Guardian had an update on Harry’s case against the Murdoch press, which included the now-defunct News of the World but also includes the still-popular outlet The Sun.
Prince Harry’s war against the British tabloid media will resume on Tuesday as the royal attempts to drag the Sun’s former editor Rebekah Brooks back into the phone-hacking scandal. Just a week after Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m (£635m) to settle a US defamation suit, the British arm of his media empire is attempting to block another lawsuit that could cause immense damage to the company.
Harry is seeking at least £200,000 in damages and alleges that the Sun newspaper illegally hacked his voicemails and hired private investigators to blag private information about his relationships during the 2000s, including when Brooks was editor. Harry’s claim, initially filed in 2019, sets out at least 101 separate alleged payments made by the Sun to private investigators for information on him and his relationships, as well as stories he says were the result of his phone being hacked.
The preliminary court hearing is expected to see fresh testimony from Harry about the impact of the stories on his family life, including references to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. The timing could be awkward for King Charles, with the court hearing taking place just 10 days before his coronation. Harry has previously claimed there was a secret deal between the royal family and Murdoch’s media company not to bring legal cases against the British newspaper industry.
Just like in the Fox News libel trial, Murdoch’s company is braced for the disclosure of internal emails relating to the allegations. These could make uncomfortable reading for Brooks, who is now the chief executive of Murdoch’s British company News UK, overseeing everything from the Sun and the Times to talkTV and Virgin Radio.
Harry has made little secret of his deep personal loathing of Brooks. In the prince’s autobiography, he described an early encounter with her. “Everyone who knew her was in full agreement that she was an infected pustule on the arse of humanity, plus a sh-t excuse for a journalist,” he said.
The Guardian had more about the hearing and the case, in which Harry will detail all of the hacked calls and messages between himself and Chelsy Davy. Rebekah Brooks is the one protected from up high by Rupert Murdoch himself – Murdoch sees Brooks as a surrogate daughter and she is one of the few women to reach a high level in his organization. Brooks managed to avoid going to prison for all of her wiretapping and hacking back in 2014, and Murdoch folded her back into his British organization. The crux of this hearing will be similar to the case against the Mirror, in that News Group Newspapers argues that Harry can’t sue them because he waited too long. Harry’s side will argue that it took him so long to sue because News Group was actively covering up their crimes for years. The Guardian also points out that at some point, Murdoch’s people usually offer some go-away money to their victims and their victims, exhausted from fighting, usually take the settlements. LOL again – that’s not going to happen this time. Harry isn’t Dominion Voting Systems or Sienna Miller. Harry has the means, the time and the justifiable anger to see this through to the bitter end.
Also: at this same hearing, Hugh Grant’s case against NGN is also being heard. Hugh is expected to make an appearance in court to watch the proceedings, but Harry is not expected to be there. I’ve actually wondered if Hugh’s relative public silence on Harry’s lawsuits indicates that the two men have been talking and coordinating.
Hugh Grant's take on the mystery of Prince Harry's texts to Meghan Markle. How did The Sun find out about them?@HackedOffHugh #MeghanandHarry https://t.co/bbIFFOjU5Q
— Byline Investigates (@BInvestigates) April 2, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- London, UK, 27th March 2023. Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in Central London after the first day of the phone tapping and privacy case against Associated Newspapers (owners of the Daily Mail). He is one of several claimants in the case.,Image: 765491200, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- London, UK, 27th March 2023. Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in Central London after the first day of the phone tapping and privacy case against Associated Newspapers (owners of the Daily Mail). He is one of several claimants in the case.,Image: 765491211, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- London, UK, 27th March 2023. Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in Central London after the first day of the phone tapping and privacy case against Associated Newspapers (owners of the Daily Mail). He is one of several claimants in the case.,Image: 765491322, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- London, UK, 27th March 2023. Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in Central London after the first day of the phone tapping and privacy case against Associated Newspapers (owners of the Daily Mail). He is one of several claimants in the case.,Image: 765491336, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696114, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696129, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Tuesday 28 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 765696140, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry arrives at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766139758, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince Harry arrives at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766139797, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
I worked with Rebekah Brooks and she was ruthless to an extreme. He is correct in his statement for sure.
Oooh, do you have any good stories to tell? Harry’s anger towards her was (dare I say it?) incandescent and I’d love to hear more about her generally, even when it has nothing to do with PH.
Get them all, Harry! And I’d say the Telegraph hasn’t been sued yet. There’s still time if they’re not careful.
I really hope that these cases go the distance and the worst culprits involved finally have to face some personal consequences for the years of misery they have caused to so many people. Harry is a modern day hero imo for his sheer persistence and doggedness against the out of control power of the BM. Regardless of the outcomes of these cases I will always have the greatest respect for what he’s trying to do here, same goes for Hugh Grant. The Telegraph has changed beyond all recognition in recent years, we ‘common folk’ literally are left with just The Guardian as a readable national newspaper in the UK.
What he is doing is so, so important both for individuals who have been victimized and to set firm consequences for illegal behavior that has been unmuzzled for decades. Finally the Murdoch Empire is facing a litigant with sufficient funds to fight them, which has been the only obstacle until this point. Now that someone can afford justice, it might be served. Fecking destroy them, H!
And don’t get me started on how fecking undemocratic our justice system is, when your level of “justice” hinges on what you can afford..
The Telegraph writes nonsense garbage about H&M (the Guardian does too sometimes), but I don’t think they’ve ever been accused of being a part of the phone hacking. The phone hacking is a step way beyond the usual disgraceful tabloid/media behavior. I so, so hope Harry brings them all down, especially Ms Brooks, she should be in jail. A lot of the phone hacking stuff should have resulted in lots of people being in jail, but it got swept away at Rupert’s request
Brooks is purely evil. This couldn’t be more personal for Harry, and I hope he brings her all the way down.
I love the idea of Harry and Hugh collaborating behind the scenes on this. That’s a pretty formidable alignment.
Always been a Hugh fan so go get those aholes Harry and Hugh .
Great team right there 💪
So Brooks is very close to Murdoch himself. “Like a daughter.” Thanks for explaining this. I always wondered how this woman invaded the patriarchy. Also from Harry’s description, it sounds like she belongs in the patriarchy.
They sound like a bunch of psychopaths. And I don’t mean the knife wielding stereotype. The psychopathic personality would explain why they operate well outside the bounds of civility and morality
Sending lots of love and hugs to Mary Pester today!
(Not trying to threadjack, just know she’ll be reading this post)
Is Mary Pester OK? I ALWAYS enjoy her comments. In fact I’d put her in my top 3 favorite regular commenters here. Hilariously sharp wit, that woman has.
Waving hello 👋 to Mary Pester. To answer your question she has unfortunately a poor prognosis and is entering a medical trial this week. She expects to have no energy to post but she hopes to keep up with the gossip because it’s entertaining and there’s so much going on.
I hope Harry and Hugh win their cases.
Well it seems these press barons are a law onto themselves. The tabloid journalists and royal experts are like the wild west cowboys on the loose.
The amount of 200k damages sought by Harry seems like petty cash to the Sun.
A fine is a price. Nothing stops until a rich white man goes to jail.
I was airlifted to hospital last weekend, so have been out of the loop regarding news I did post rant on here last night, just after I was discharged, so it may not have made much sense! Any other Ozzies on here see 4Corners and Media Watch tonight? The report on 4Corners was “The Big Lie” – all about Murdoch getting into bed with Trump and then Trump turning on him when Murdoch called Arizona (?) blue. Then came all the allegations of stolen votes fraud, trumps usual garbage. That judge Sydney, whatever her name is…. What a moron. Sarah Ferguson (OUR Brilliant reporter), tied her in knots.
Then in Media Watch, the bombshell dropped that the court case against one of the voting machine companies was due to start, but Murdoch bottled out – waved the white flag and caved in and ran away. So no court case and a big payout.. there’s still the other one to come, dominion, I think.
How do you think this is going to affect Harry’s court case, if at all? Apparently, the house of Murdoch is not what it used to be. James warned them this would happen. He’s been out of sorts with his father and brother for years.
Will these events have much effect on Harry’s and Hugh’s cases? It’s good to see the Murdochracy wounded so badly. I’d like to see them blown into oblivion.
TEAM HARRY!
Take 15 or so minutes to see this report . You should be able to find Media Watch here:
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch
It seems Harry doesn’t want to settle he wants a ruling and one with consequences. He’s trying to change the landscape.
I read some of the coverage of one of the voting machine trials and there was something in there about dealing with facts and reality. The judge wasn’t putting up with nonsense
Hope you’re doing better Annakist.
@Annakist- I had literally JUST started watching the video in the link you provided when I was compelled to pause it, come back here really quickly, and ask; WTF is Sydney wearing???? Is that reptile OVER cheetah???? My eyes!!! (side note- where does one go to make emogi suggestions? I’ve been wanting a “gouging my eyes out” emogi for the LONGEST). OK back to the video…..
All the luck, Harry! Go get ‘em.
Lots of prayers from my end for Prince Harry and the other litigants to win all their cases. The people who have been maligned by the tabloids for profits, their lives destroyed, their pain unabated, have been powerless against these institutions and unable to effect a change in the way the institutions operate without appropriate regulation and journalistic standards to foster objective reporting undergirded in truth. Unnamed sources have used to spin tall tales with information gathered unscrupulously and misrepresentations of quotes from named sources to promote agendas for the wealthy and powerful media owners. Sad state of affairs, considering the lives ruined by those institutions.
This case will expose how the sausage is being made, exposes the underbelly of ‘ news’ gathering by the defunct NofTW and the Sun.
The lawyers are were versed with this, all but 5 of the litigants that include Prince Harry, Hugh Grant and Johnny Depp remaining.
This is about exposure to truth. Good luck to the remaining litigants.