The Duke of Sussex, who now resides in the US after leaving his royal duties in 2020, arrived at the central London court with a smile on his face. He sat towards the back of the court, two seats away from fellow complainant Frost.
Other notable figures taking part in the legal action include actresses Liz Hurley and John's husband David Furnish, Doreen Lawrence - the mother of murder victim Stephen Lawrence, and former Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes.
The group's lawyers argued that the publisher of the Daily Mail commissioned the breaking and entering of private property, illegally intercepted voicemail messages, and obtained medical records. "The claimants each claim that in different ways they were the victim of numerous unlawful acts carried out by the defendant, or by those acting on the instructions of its newspapers, The Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday," lawyer David Sherborne said in written submissions to the court.
According to Sherborne, the alleged unlawful acts included "illegally intercepting voicemail messages, listening into live landline calls, obtaining private information, such as itemized phone bills or medical records, by deception..., using private investigators to commit these unlawful information gathering acts on their behalf and even commissioning the breaking and entry into private property."
The newspaper publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), has denied the allegations, describing them as "preposterous smears" and a "pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal." ANL also said the allegations were "unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims, based on no credible evidence."
A four-day preliminary hearing is being held at the high court, with ANL arguing that the allegations are "stale" and should be dismissed without a trial. Prince Harry has had a difficult relationship with the media, which dates back to his mother Princess Diana's death in a car crash in Paris in 1997 after she and her companion, Dodi Fayed, were pursued by paparazzi photographers.
