London High Court ruling interpreted as Prince Harry's defeat

London High Court ruling in Prince Harry's lawsuit against a UK publisher has been interpreted as his defeat by his critics online.

A judge on Thursday said the Duke of Sussex's lawsuit against The Sun tabloid alleging unlawful information gathering can go to trial but will not include phone hacking claims.

His critics said that the court threw out a huge portion of his claim and "politely called him a liar".

According to AFP, the judge decided the prince "has a realistically arguable case at trial" over claims the tabloid unlawfully sourced "confidential information from third parties" in part through private investigators.

He noted his judgement does not conclude whether they had been made in time, "only... that it is not sufficiently clear at this stage that it was issued too late".

However, on phone hacking accusations dating back to the 2000s, Fancourt sided with NGN that a six-year "limitation period" had expired before Harry filed his claim in 2019.

The judge also rejected submissions by Harry that he had delayed initiating such a lawsuit due to a "secret agreement" between the royal family as an institution and the publisher.

He said that claim "did not reach the necessary threshold of plausibility and cogency", adding "there was no witness or documentary evidence to support what the Duke claimed".