Prince Harry's Court Case Against 'The Sun' Publishers Will Go to Trial, But His Phone Hacking Allegations Were Dismissed

Prince Harry has a handful of court cases currently in process, and has already claimed a few partial wins as he continues his fight against the British tabloid press.

Now, his court case against the publishers of The Sun has reached a hopeful next step, following a preliminary court hearing back in April.

BBC News reports that the Duke of Sussex' case against News Group Newspapers is expected to go to trial next year, though his allegations of phone hacking have been dismissed for having been "made too late," per Reuters. Harry had previously told the court that NGN and Buckingham Palace had made a "secret agreement" which meant he couldn't speak out about the alleged phone hacking sooner.

A spokesperson for NGN said, "The High Court has today, in a significant victory for News Group Newspapers, dismissed The Duke of Sussex’s phone hacking claims against both the News Of The World and The Sun."

They continued, "In arguing his case, the Duke of Sussex had alleged a ‘secret agreement’ existed between him/Buckingham Palace and NGN which stopped NGN from asserting that the Duke’s claim had been brought too late. The Judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, found his claims in relation to the alleged ‘secret agreement’ were not plausible or credible. It is quite clear there was never any such agreement and it is only the Duke who has ever asserted there was."

Meanwhile, royal reporter and Sussex biographer Omid Scobie gave us a handy tl;dr on the whole situation.

"Prince Harry has been granted permission to take part of his lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun to trial," Scobie tweeted.

"The decision—made at London's High Court this morning—means the Duke of Sussex can proceed with his allegations of unlawful information gathering and the illegal use of private investigators from the mid 1990s to 2016.

"Mr Justice Fancourt, however, refused to allow Harry to bring phone hacking claim forward due to the allegations being made too late. The judge said the duke can't amend his case to rely on a 'secret agreement' between Buckingham Palace and News Group Newspapers executives."

Harry's lawsuit agains NGN is one of several he's currently involved in. He has also brought a case against Associated Newspapers for alleged libel, and another one against ANL for "breaches of privacy" with a group of other public figures including Elton John. He has also brought a case against Mirror Group Newspapers.