The Duke of Sussex’s legal claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail could face a trial in 2026, a High Court judge has suggested.

Harry is among a group of high-profile individuals – including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, and politician Sir Simon Hughes – bringing legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).

They have accused the publisher of allegedly carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities, such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records, burglaries to order and accessing and recording private phone conversations.

ANL firmly denies the allegations and is defending the legal action, previously telling the court that they are “lurid” and “simply preposterous”.

Associated Newspapers privacy case
Sir Elton John previously attended a hearing in the case (Aaron Chown/PA)

At a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, which was attended by Lady Lawrence, judge Mr Justice Nicklin said that it was important to progress the case to an eventual trial.

He said: “My broad objective is we fix a trial date… It will probably start on 14 January 2026.”

The judge continued that the date may change and repeated that it was an “objective”.

He added: “I don’t know what is going to happen in various stages of the litigation… That objective may ultimately be thwarted.”

The two-day hearing in London is due to deal with requests for documents, costs and a bid to have part of the case dismissed without a trial.

The hearing before Mr Justice Nicklin and Judge David Cook is due to conclude on Wednesday.