Prince Harry to return to the UK next month for next step in his crusade against the tabloid press

Prince Harry's latest crusade against the tabloid press officially begins at the High Court in London on Tuesday.

The Duke of Sussex has brought a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's British media empire, News Group Newspapers, over alleged unlawful activities carried out by journalists and private investigators working for its papers, The Sun and the defunct News of the World.

Prince Harry is due to appear as a witness at the trial next month, which is expected to run between seven to 10 weeks.

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It is shaping up as the duke's most important move in his battle against the tabloid media which began soon after his marriage to Meghan in 2018.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down from their roles as senior working royals in January 2020 to move to the United States, a decision they said was partly due to media intrusion and harassment from the tabloids.

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"The goal is accountability. It's really that simple," Prince Harry told an audience at a New York Times event in December.

Around 40 other claimants, including actor Hugh Grant, have previously settled cases to avoid the risk of a multi-million dollar legal bill.

The other claimant going into battle with Prince Harry is Lord Tom Watson, a former Labour MP who says his phone was targeted.

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Prince Harry says he wants the truth.

"They have settled because they've had to settle," Harry said.

"One of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability because I'm the last person that can actually achieve that."

The stories in question date from 1996 until 2011.

When his claim was first launched, Harry alleged that more than 200 articles published by NGN between 1996 and 2011 contained information gathered by illegal means.

The trial will look at a sample of around 30 stories.

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One includes a story titled 'Emotional Harry rang Chelsy at midnight' which was about the duke's then girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

A spokesperson for NGN said: "Both claimants allege unlawful destruction of emails by News International between 2010-2011. This allegation is wrong, unsustainable, and is strongly denied.

"NGN will be calling a number of witnesses including technologists, lawyers and senior staff to defeat the claim."

Since 2011, NGN has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering by the News of the World, and settled claims brought by more than 1,300 people.

Back then the group issued an unreserved apology for widespread phone hacking carried out by journalists at the News of the World.

But it has always denied any unlawful activity at The Sun, and this trial will be the first to examine specific allegations against the paper.

In 2023, Prince Harry successfully sued Mirror Group Newspapers for hacking voicemail messages on his phone and for other unlawful invasions of privacy.

He won substantial damages ($267,000) and became the first senior British royal in more than 130 years to appear as a witness in court when he provided testimony over two days.

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