Prince Harry and Elton John Team Up for Major Legal Action
Prince Harry and Elton John are two of the celebrities who are pursuing legal action against a major British tabloid. E! News reported that Harry and John filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of British tabloids including the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. Associated Newspapers is also facing lawsuits from Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon, and John's husband David Furnish.
Variety obtained documents associated with this legal matter, which outline that Associated Newspapers is facing three separate lawsuits from the celebrities. Gunnercooke, which is representing John, Furnish, Hurley, and Doreen, filed a lawsuit against the company in London. Lawsuits from Harry and Frost, who are being represented by the Hamlins law firm, have reportedly yet to appear in court records. However, their firm did confirm that legal action "has been launched."
As for why the group is suing Associated Newspapers, they are claiming that they have been "the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy" from the company. All three of the lawsuits that have been filed against the publisher concern the alleged "misuse of private information." Associated Newspapers is being accused of hiring private investigators to bug cars and homes, hiring people to listen to their phone conversations, and paying police for inside information. Based on a press release from the Hamlins law firm, the company is also being accused of "the impersonation of individuals to obtain medical information from private hospitals, clinics, and treatment centers," and "the accessing of bank accounts, credit histories and financial transactions through illicit means and manipulation." Associated Newspapers addressed these allegations in a statement to Variety.
"We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears which appear to be nothing more than a pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone hacking scandal concerning articles up to 30 years old," a spokesperson for Associated Newspapers stated. "These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims – based on no credible evidence – appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers, some of whom have already pursued cases elsewhere."
Royal watchers will likely know that this isn't the first time that the Duke of Sussex or his wife, Meghan Markle, has taken legal action against the British publisher. As Variety noted, this is the third lawsuit that Harry has brought against Associated Newspapers. Previously, he sued the company for alleged libel and slander. As for Markle, she sued Associated Newspapers' Mail on Sunday for copyright infringement and breach of privacy after they published excerpts of a letter that she penned to her estranged father, Thomas Markle. In December 2021, she won the legal battle and the company was made to print a statement about her victory on its front page as well as pay her legal fees.