Prince Harry, Elton John lose privacy lawsuit against Daily Mail publisher

Prince Harry and other prominent individuals, including Elton John, have lost their privacy lawsuits against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail. The claimants alleged that dozens of stories published between the 1990s and 2011 were based on unlawfully obtained information.

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The court rejected the argument that, simply because information was private, and because Associated could not positively explain how it had been sourced, the relevant article must have been unlawfully sourced.

However, the High Court dismissed the claims in their entirety. Judge Matthew Nicklin stated that claimants needed to prove unlawful sourcing, and mere suspicion was not enough. The ruling acknowledged that the publisher secured an "overwhelming victory."

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an overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists.

Prince Harry, who was in Britain for the ruling, has long campaigned against alleged abuses by the British press. He has blamed the media for the 1997 car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and described bringing this lawsuit as a "public duty." He previously stated in court that the Daily Mail had made his wife Meghan's life "an absolute misery."

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made his wife Meghan's life "an absolute misery."

This defeat marks a significant setback for Prince Harry in his ongoing legal battles with the media, following earlier successes against the publisher of the Daily Mirror and a settlement with Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm.

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his "public duty."