Prince Harry’s phone hacking claims thrown out by judge as part of lawsuit to go to trial

Prince Harry’s mammoth fight against a newspaper publisher has encountered a dramatic setback as prepares for a High Court trial.

Prince Harry has had his phone hacking claims against The Sun’s publisher quashed by a judge but the rest of his case will continue to a High Court trial.

The royal, 38, has alleged he was targeted by journalists working for News Group Newspapers (NGN) titles between the 1990s until 2016.

Mr Justice Fancourt ruled on Thursday in London that Prince Harry could not bring his phone hacking-related claim but the rest of his case could instead be tried.

Prince Harry is in the midst of legal proceedings in the UK.

“I am satisfied that there is no reasonable prospect of the Duke proving at trial that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have discovered facts that would show that he had a worthwhile claim for voicemail interception in relation to each of the News of the World and The Sun,” his written ruling read.

“He already knew that in relation to the News Of The World, and he could easily have found out by making basic inquiries that he was likely to have a similar claim in relation to articles published by The Sun.”

NGN had asked Mr Justice Fancourt in an earlier hearing in April to throw out the case, on the grounds it was brought to court too late.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the US after quitting the royal family.

Mr Fancourt also refused to allow the Duke of Sussex to rely on an alleged “secret agreement” between the royal family and senior executives working for NGN.

Mr Fancourt’s ruling said the prince had not “provided any evidence from those in the palace who would have been aware of a secret agreement if there was one”.

Lawyers for the royal said there was emails between executives and palace staff in 2017 and 2018 in relation to the agreement.

NGN denies any unlawful activity took place and disputed the existence of such an agreement.

An NGN spokesman said the ruling was “a significant victory”.

“The Judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, found his claims in relation to the alleged ‘secret agreement’ were not plausible or credible,” they said.

“It is quite clear there was never any such agreement and it is only the Duke who has ever asserted there was.”

The trial is due to take place in January next year.

Originally published as Prince Harry’s phone hacking claims thrown out by judge as part of lawsuit to go to trial