Prince Harry stepped out of the High Court on Monday afternoon with a confident grin that suggested he already felt the first round was his.
The opening day of the high-stakes privacy battle with the publishers of Daily Mail then hours of detailed posts, but the Duke of Sussex seemed unfazed.
The case, overseen by Mr. Justice Nicklin, will restart at 10.30am on Tuesday, with Harry expected to return to court later this week to give evidence himself.
At the heart of the case are claims brought by seven public figures against Associated Newspapers Limited, the company behind it Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
Monday’s hearing saw lawyer David Sherborne begin to lay out what he described as a pattern stretching back more than two decades.
Speaking on behalf of the plaintiffs, he asserted a continued reliance on private investigators across the board Mail titles and named several people he said were linked to the practice.
Among the examples was an investigator who was allegedly tasked with obtaining information about a burglary at the home of the Queen’s cousin.
Sherborne also referenced Jonathan Rees, a private investigator once notorious for boasting about the reach of his information network.
According to him, Rees had taken a special interest in the murder of Stephen Lawrence because of the intense public attention surrounding the case.
The court then turned to the individual claims, which were not filed until October 2022.
Baroness Lawrence’s case centers on five articles published between the late 1990s and 2007.
Attention later shifted to actress Sadie Frost, whose claim focuses on 11 stories and two specific incidents.
Three journalists are primarily named across these articles.
A draft, written but never published, dealt with an ectopic pregnancy Frost suffered in 2003.
Sherborne told the court that the level of detail in the material was deeply personal and noted that even members of Frost’s own family had been unaware of the situation.
As proceedings adjourned for the day, Prince Harry and Liz Hurley were both seen leaving court smiling.
Sherborne is set to continue outlining the remaining claims when the hearing resumes before the publishers present their own opening arguments.
