Overview

• Claimants pointed to invoices disclosed on September 24, including one titled “Out of Africa Story Royal Party Enqs,” which they say supports an inference that details of Prince William’s 2003 21st birthday party were obtained by deception.
• A separate private investigator record allegedly shows a request for a “mobile phone conversion” related to the Princess of Wales and numbers from a “family and friends” list, with the publisher arguing the proposed addition is late and overlaps with material reported in 2012.
• Associated Newspapers denies wrongdoing, labels the allegations “lurid,” and urged the court to strike out or limit generic claims to specific, clearly pleaded instances tied to named journalists or investigators, excluding reliance on other publishers’ cases.
• Mr Justice Nicklin has previously ordered disclosure on alleged payments to witnesses and criticized claimants’ inconsistent practices, while the publisher used the hearing to allege a scheme involving two claimants to counter time-limit rules, an assertion the claimants reject as a disproportionate “nuclear option.”
• The two-day preliminary hearing continues with no ruling yet; Prince Harry joined by remote link as Sadie Frost and David Furnish attended in person, with a potential trial scheduled for early 2026.