Sawt Falasteen - Prince Harry, Elton John lose case against UK tabloid

A written judgment published following an 11-week trial earlier this year said the "claimants failed to prove their pleaded allegations... the claims are therefore dismissed".

The prince gave emotional testimony during the proceedings against Associated Newspapers in which several high-profile figures, including John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, accused the tabloid publisher of invading their privacy.

Harry's lawyers had said they were seeking "substantial" damages on behalf of their clients over articles dating from 1993 to 2018.

It was the third and final case brought by the Duke of Sussex in his acrimonious legal battle with British tabloids, which has further strained relations with the royal family.

Harry, 41 -- the youngest son of King Charles III -- has also been involved in other legal spats, including over his police protection in Britain following his dramatic departure from frontline royal duties six years ago.

The prince, now living in California, arrived in Britain on Monday for a five-day visit expected to go ahead mostly without his wife and children after the family was refused police protection.

The trip, to mark the one-year countdown to next year's Invictus Games for wounded veterans, which Harry founded, was meant to be his first family trip back to the UK in four years.

But a source close to the Duke of Sussex told AFP that Harry's wife Meghan, son Archie and daughter Lilibet would not accompany him on the London leg of the trip after the family was refused security.

Arrangements for the rest of the trip were still under consideration, the source said, leaving it unclear whether the whole family would visit but stay outside the capital.

Contradictory statements about plans to stay at Buckingham Palace while in London added to the prince's headaches.

Just ahead of Harry's arrival, Buckingham Palace contradicted the duke's team to say that he would not be staying at the palace after missing a deadline to accept the accommodation offer.

Harry's spokesman said it was "disappointing" the offer to be hosted by his father had been "withdrawn at the last moment", in a statement sent to AFP.

- Security woes -

It was unclear whether the prince would meet his father during the trip. He is last understood to have met Charles, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, at the monarch's London residence Clarence House in September 2025.

Harry and Meghan left Britain for North America in 2020 amid a bitter feud with his family, which worsened as Harry published his tell-all memoir "Spare".

The prince has since said he wishes to reconcile with his father, but the confusion over where Harry was going to stay in London suggest relations remain difficult.

According to his spokesperson, Harry had to make "alternative security arrangements" for the trip after publicly funded protection was refused, contributing to the delay in accepting Buckingham Palace's accommodation offer.

"It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment," the spokesman said.

Beyond logistical complications, the palace believed the legal judgment complicated matters as it could compromise the king's constitutional position, the PA news agency reported.

Last year, Harry said he felt unable to bring his family to Britain after losing a court case to have his security restored during visits home.

Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.

"He understands how that protection can fail and how catastrophic, therefore, those results can be," Simon Morgan, a former bodyguard for the royal family, told AFP on Monday.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST