Prince Harry Will Likely Receive “Significant Damages” from Lawsuit, Legal Expert Says

Prince Harry grimaces as he leaves a U.K. courtroom

(Image credit: Getty)

published 10 June 2023

Prince Harry spent the past week on the stand as part of a court case he has brought against Mirror Group Newspapers, which publishes The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, The Daily Express, and more. And he could expect to receive “significant damages” from the suit, says legal expert Neama Rahmani, per Us Weekly.

“You never know what a judge is going to do, but I would expect that he will be awarded significant damages, because this is pretty outrageous, their conduct,” says Rahmani, who is a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.

Harry is suing Mirror Group Newspapers for allegedly unlawfully gathering information about him by accessing his voicemails from 1996 and 2011. A 55-page written witness statement was released Tuesday before he took the stand.

Prince Harry gives a thumbs up as he exits a courtroom

The statement helped bolster Harry’s case, Rahmani says: “I’m sure he prepared it with the help of his lawyers to really show how he was affected by this hacking,” Rahmani says. “You know, how personal this information was. My prediction is that the prince is going to get a significant award—I mean, this really crosses the line in terms of reporting, hacking someone’s phone. That’s something that’s unlawful.”

As part of the case, Harry spoke of his relationship with Caroline Flack, whom he briefly dated and who died by suicide in 2020. In his written witness statement, Harry recalled beginning to doubt Flack and his friend Mark Dyer after the press somehow found out about a poker night he had with friends in 2009.

“Only Marko, Caroline, and I knew of the plans—there was only a couple of other people invited, and I don’t think they knew that Caroline would be joining us,” he wrote, noting that he became “highly suspicious” that someone had leaked information to the press. He continued “I now believe this information had come from our voicemails—mine, Marko’s, or Caroline’s. The impact these kinds of stories had on my relationships cannot be underestimated. Even those I trusted the most, I ended up doubting.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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