David Furnish, the spouse of British musician Elton John, testified in London’s High Court that the Daily Mail publisher had illegally acquired information about them, including details allegedly taken from their friend, Prince Harry. Furnish, a Canadian producer and one of the seven claimants in a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, accused the Mail titles of displaying homophobia towards their relationship. The publisher, however, refuted the allegations of phone hacking and other illicit actions, asserting that the information published was either public knowledge or obtained from legitimate sources.
During the court proceedings, Furnish highlighted that the specific details in the Mail articles went beyond what could have been sourced from other media, John’s website, or statements from his spokesperson. Furnish’s testimony came after Prince Harry, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, former lawmaker Simon Hughes, and anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence had already given evidence in the high-profile legal battle. Elton John is scheduled to provide his testimony the following day.
The lawsuit filed by Furnish and John focuses on ten articles released between 2002 and 2015, including a 2007 story in the Mail on Sunday concerning a concert commemorating the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. While Harry believed that voicemail messages about the concert might have been exchanged between him and John, the Mail’s legal team contended that the information originated from credible royal sources.
Furnish expressed in his written statement that he and John suspected their home’s landlines were tapped, with the Mail being implicated in the alleged theft of information through their connections with Elizabeth Hurley and Prince Harry. He emphasized John’s admiration for Prince Harry and criticized the Mail for publishing what he described as judgmental and close-minded stories about them. Furnish also condemned the Mail for reportedly obtaining their son’s birth certificate before them, stating that it was distressing to have their personal information misused.
Additionally, in a separate legal matter, Prince Harry settled a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Groups Newspapers in 2025, receiving damages and an apology for the invasion of his privacy through unlawful means by The Sun tabloid and the now-defunct News of the World.