Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives at the High Court on March 27, 2023 in London, Britain. Portal/Toby Melville
Prince Harry appeared before a London court on Monday as a British tabloid lawyer prepared to ask a judge to dismiss charges of wiretapping and other invasions of privacy brought by the prince, Elton John and several other celebrities.
The hearing concerns one of several lawsuits Harry, aka the Duke of Sussex, has filed against the media. It is expected to last four days.
Harry’s presence in the London High Court is a Sign of the importance attached to the case.
Associated Newspapers, which publishes titles like the Chron, is asking the High Court to stop the Lawsuits filed by a group of high-profile individuals seeking damages for misuse of private information. Other plaintiffs include John’s husband, David Furnish, and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost.
The complaint against the publisher was filed in 2022. Portal/Toby Melville
The complaint against the publisher stems from a text published in February 2022 alleging that the prince was trying to cover up a family dispute because the British government had refused to allow him to pay for a private police security service that did it was taken from him when he gave up the throne.
The outlet then released a text that read: “Exclusive: How Prince Harry attempted to keep his legal battle against the government secret through police bodyguards…then, just minutes after the story broke, his public relations machinery tried to turn the dispute into a positive one“.
According to the Duke’s defense, the newspaper slandered him by asserting this lied in his first public statements about the lawsuit against the government and takes care of it the facts presented in the text do not support the other party’s argument that there actually is one “honest opinion”.
The article was “fundamentally inaccurate,” argued attorney Justin Rushbrooke.
According to the Duke’s defense, the newspaper slandered him by assuring that he lied in his first public statements about the lawsuit against the government and that the facts presented in the text do not in fact support the arguments put forward by the opposing party concerned an “honest opinion”. Photo by Tim Rooke/Shutterstock (9253322bx)
The conflict over the personal safety of Harry and his family began in 2020after they decided to settle down USA. Since then, the couple have been battling with the UK government to provide them with police security during their publicly funded visit to the country.
Faced with the rejection of this request, the prince has asked to personally pay for security so he can travel in peace with his partner and their two children –Archiealmost 4 years old, and Lilibet, from nearly 2-. However, it was again denied, although a judge authorized Harry to do so in 2022 sue the government – a case not yet before the court.
The publisher’s attorney, Andrew Caldecott, defended the outlet, arguing that the complaint amounts to “putting a straitjacket on the newspaper’s right to comment,” and stressed the importance of the media being able to tell the truth, even to the country’s government officials.
“Voicing an opinion to power is just as important, if not more important,” as long as the opinion is based on factshe added.
(with information from AP)
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