Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, lost part of his lawsuit against The Sun publisher over allegations of unlawful information gathering but will have his time in court as a high court judge ruled that it will go to trial.
The 38-year-old royal claims that he was the target of journalists and private investigators who worked for News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World.
Prince Harry Loses Part of Lawsuit Against The Sun Publisher
During an April hearing, NGN urged Justice Timothy Fancourt to throw out Prince Harry's case, arguing that it was already brought in too late because he should have known sooner that he had a potential claim.
The concluded in a ruling on Thursday that the Royal was not allowed to bring his claim relating to phone hacking but also allowed his claim over other allegations, which include the use of private investigators, to go ahead to a trial, which is scheduled to take place in January next year, as per The Guardian.
However, the judge refused to allow the duke to rely on an alleged "secret agreement" between the royal family and senior executives who work for media mogul Ruper Murdoch as part of his claim in the case.
An NGN spokesperson claimed that the ruling on Thursday was a "significant victory." The judge's ruling noted that there was no reasonable prospect of the duke proving at trial that he was unaware and could not, with reasonable diligence, have discovered facts that would show that he possessed a worthwhile claim for voicemail interception.
The judge added that the Royal was already aware that he could easily have found out if he made basic inquiries that he was more likely than not going to have a similar claim about articles that The Sun published.
Phone Hacking Allegations
The scandal about Britain's phone hacking started at NGN and was later found to have been widespread in other papers. In 2011, Murdoch closed News of the World because of the situation, and he issued an unreserved apology in 2012 to those affected by the hack. According to the Associated Press, he continues to settle cases related to the scandal, but The Sun has not accepted liability or admitted allegations.
The Thursday ruling was similar to one that the judge made in May in a case brought by actor Hugh Grant, where he also tossed out allegations of phone hacking. The two plaintiffs' cases were argued together during a hearing in April.
Prince Harry has repeatedly claimed that the royal family deliberately works with British tabloids to craft their public image. He said that after many years of lies being told about him and his family, the latter decided to cooperate with the tabloids to rehabilitate their image.
Following the judge's ruling on the allegations, NGN said that it was quite clear that there was never any such agreement and claimed that only the duke asserted such accusations, said Yahoo Entertainment.
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