Prince Harry Breaks Silence After Losing Lawsuit Against U.K. Tabloid: ‘A Complete and Obvious Whitewash’

Harry’s response comes just hours after a judge dismissed his lawsuit, with the ruling handed down during his visit to London for Invictus Games events

Prince Harry is speaking out after suffering a major legal setback in his years-long battle against the British press.

Hours after Mr. Justice Nicklin dismissed Harry’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited following a 46-day trial, the Duke of Sussex released a joint statement with fellow claimant Baroness Doreen Lawrence on Tuesday, July 7.

“We came to Court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither,” Harry and Baroness Lawrence said.

“This judgment represents a complete reversal of the position which previous Judges have taken in relation to the hacking claims successfully brought against both News Group Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers (who were represented by, at the time, the Judge who made this decision). Generic findings about various private investigators that were held by the Courts in these parallel claims to have carried out unlawful activity at the very same time in relation to similar stories and well-known individuals have been wholly ignored. The fact that this Court has chosen to dismiss them represents an inconsistency which is hard to understand or reconcile with common sense, or the evidence heard in the courtroom itself.”

“It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected,” they continued. “However, the lengths to which the Court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted.”

“When the Court says there is not sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, despite the documents showing otherwise, then one does wonder how justice was ever going to be achieved,” they continued. “One need not look past when a private investigator the Mail used actually admitted on tape to having unlawfully blagged Baroness Lawrence, or when a journalist recorded the name of the private investigators she used to find out about highly sensitive medical information (that even the Mail was too worried to publish) or when another private investigator emailed one of the journalists with the actual British Airways seat number and ticketing details for a young girl simply visiting her boyfriend in return for payment,” seemingly referring to Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, who was the subject of some of the stories raised in the trial. (Harry said on the witness stand that the press engaged in “widespread invasion of my privacy” of his relationship with Davy, whom he dated on and off between 2004 and 2010.)

“It feels here like one rule for the newspapers and another for the claimants. While the Claimants presented evidence, Mail journalists simply gave denials, and the Court chose uncritically to believe them, even in the face of inconsistencies, contradictions and blatant untruths that were obvious to neutral observers in Court when compared to the documents,” they added. “We presented to the Court evidence which we believed was compelling at the time and remains so now. We would like to thank our legal team for all their hard work and all the witnesses who were brave enough to come forward in the pursuit of justice.”

Harry and the six other high-profile claimants failed to prove their allegations that the publisher unlawfully obtained private information through methods including private investigators, deception, phone hacking and corrupt payments.

The ruling came as Harry was in London for an event tied to the Invictus Games. Shortly after the judgment was handed down, the Duke of Sussex took the stage at Chatham House, where he showed no outward sign of frustration and instead opened with a joke about the venue.

“It is one of the few rooms in the U.K. that has air conditioning, so I can understand why every seat is full,” Harry quipped. “I get it.”

David Sherbourne, Harry’s lawyer, was seen arriving at Chatham House while the Duke of Sussex was inside and after the court ruling was announced.

Despite the court loss, Prince Harry gave a smile and a thumbs up as he left Chatham House before quickly getting into the backseat of a car and closing the door.

In his ruling, Mr. Justice Nicklin concluded that Harry and the other claimants had not proved that the disputed articles were the product of unlawful information gathering, stressing that suspicion alone was not enough to establish liability. The group included Elizabeth Hurley, Elton John and his husband David Furnish, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Sir Simon Hughes and Sadie Frost.

The decision marks a significant setback in Harry’s campaign against the British tabloid press. He previously won his case against Mirror Group Newspapers over unlawful information gathering and reached a settlement with News Group Newspapers earlier this year.

Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

A further hearing is scheduled later this month to address consequential matters arising from the judgment.

Via: People