FIGHTING FOR HIS FAMILY

Having scored one 'monumental' court victory, Prince Harry has his sights set on overturning a verdict that, he argues, is affecting his children's lives

- EMLY NASH

For the Duke of Sussex, this was personal. He had vowed to make his crusade against the newspapers that harmed him and those closest to him his "life's work."

On Jan. 22, in a move that would have made his mother "proud," according to his uncle, Prince Harry elicited an "unequivocal apology" from News Group Newspapers - plus an eight-figure payout for "serious intrusion" (using methods like phone hacking and secret surveillance) into his private life and that of Diana, Princess of Wales.

"It's wonderful that Harry fought for – and gained - an apology to his mother," his uncle Earl Spencer said afterward. "She would be incredibly touched at that, and rightly proud."

The "monumental victory," in the words of Harry's lawyer, means that the royal dad of two who had been due to take the witness stand in mid-February (straight after the 2025 Vancouver-Whistler Invictus Games) - can head home to be with his wife, Meghan, and their children, Prince Archie, 5, and three-year-old Princess Lilibet.

LONG AND WINDING ROAD

But although the victory will have brought some closure, his legal issues are far from over. The duke will now focus on another fight for his family this time, a court battle over his security – which, if resolved, could see him take his children back to the U.K. for the first time since 2022. And the case, which begins in April, may prove to be decisive in his relationship with his father, the King.

Harry's lawyers are appealing a high court judgment upholding a Home Office decision to downgrade his security provision in the U.K., when he stepped back as a senior working royal in 2020.