Prince Harry arrives at London court for final showdown with British tabloids

LONDON — It’s Prince Harry’s final showdown with Britain’s tabloid media.

The estranged royal arrived at London’s High Court on Monday for his latest legal battle with one of Britain’s biggest news organizations.

The cameras were lined up and the correspondents ready outside as he entered. Harry was feeling “confident and ready,” a spokesperson told NBC News ahead of the trial, which is set to last nine weeks.

The Duke of Sussex leads a group of seven high-profile claimants, including Elton John and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost. They accuse Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday newspapers, of using unlawful methods to snoop on them for sensational headlines.

The publisher has denied the allegations and labeled them preposterous.

Speculation has been rife about whether the end of this, Harry’s final fight against Britain’s formidable newspapers publishers, could lead to a reconciliation with his father King Charles III after years of mounting royal tensions.

But Harry’s spokesperson declined to comment on whether the prince has plans to meet with his family during the visit, from the home he has made in the United States with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and their children.

The king is in Scotland this week.

Harry’s appearance in the witness box will be his second, having broken with royal tradition three years ago to testify. His bid to tame the tabloid press he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and treatment of his wife, is widely viewed as having contributed to the strain with his family.

Harry will be joined in court 76 at London’s Royal Courts of Justice by at least some of his fellow claimants. While it is expected that John and his husband, David Furnish, will testify remotely, Hurley was seen arriving in court on Monday and Frost also joined.

Former lawmaker Simon Hughes and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, whose son Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in 1993, have also joined the claimants.

The group’s lawyers have accused ANL of “grave breaches of privacy” and alleged that the newspaper group commissioned private investigators to unlawfully target their clients, tapped and hacked their phones, and obtained private medical and financial records through deception, chiefly between 1993 and 2011.

Associated Newspapers Limited has strenuously denied the allegations. Asked for comment on Thursday ahead of the trial, the company referred NBC News to a previous statement issued in 2024 that called the claims “preposterous and without foundation.”

It added that its defense submission said “the case brought by the prince and others is ‘an affront to the hard-working journalists whose reputations and integrity, as well as those of Associated itself, are wrongly traduced.’”

For those outside the court on Monday, there was a dilemma.

The large building has multiple entrances, and so the fear among those waiting was palpable that the prince might be able to sneak in without them noticing.

So more cameras, photographers and journalists positioned around the back of the building, which sits at the top of Fleet Street.

To the side of the entrance of the gothic Victorian building, photographers checked their lenses and speculated about the light.

Across the road television crews debated whether Harry could win.

It was those round the back who were proved correct. Shortly after 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) a black Range Rover pulled into a side entrance where a group of police officers were waiting.

As the throng of lenses rose in unison, out came the prince into the chilly London morning, wearing a navy blue suit with a serious look on his face. But as the throng of journalists shouted “good morning,” Harry flashed a smile and waved before entering the building.