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David Furnish, British singer Elton John’s husband, told London’s High Court on Thursday that the publisher of the Daily Mail had unlawfully obtained information about them, including information he says was stolen from their friend, Prince Harry.
Canadian producer Furnish — who with John is one of seven claimants suing Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, for alleged privacy breaches — also said in his witness statement that the Mail titles had been “actively homophobic” about their relationship.
Associated denies allegations of phone hacking and other unlawful acts made by Furnish, John and the other claimants, and says the information its newspapers reported was already in the public domain or obtained from legitimate sources.
The publisher’s lawyer, Catrin Evans, suggested that information in the stories Furnish and John complained about had come from other media, John’s website or statements from his spokesperson.
But Furnish, giving evidence by video link, said details in the Mail articles had been much more specific.
Paper stole info from Prince Harry: Furnish
Furnish was the sixth claimant to give evidence in the high-profile lawsuit, after Prince Harry, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, former lawmaker Simon Hughes and anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence. John is due to give evidence on Friday.
Furnish and John’s case relates to 10 articles published between 2002 and 2015, including a 2007 story in the Mail on Sunday about a concert to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, who died in a 1997 car crash.
Harry said in his witness statement that he thought he and John would have exchanged voicemail messages about the concert. The Mail’s lawyers, however, say the information came from well-placed royal sources.
Furnish said in his written evidence that he and John believed their home’s landlines had been bugged and that the Mail was involved in “the stealing of our information through our friends Elizabeth Hurley and Prince Harry.”
“Elton absolutely adores Prince Harry,” his statement said.
Furnish also said that he and John “have a long and difficult history with The Mail,” accusing the publisher of writing “judgmental and narrow-minded stories about us.”
Furnish said that, in relation to a 2010 article about him and John having a child through surrogacy, the Mail obtained a copy of their son’s birth certificate before they did, which he said was “deeply disturbing.”
“It has outraged us that The Mail used our friendships against us by stealing information through them,” he said in his statement.
“It has outraged us that our family home was violated and our son’s birth certificate stolen before we even had a chance to see it ourselves and Elton’s medicals were ransacked with impunity.”
Prince Harry will receive ‘substantial’ damages after settling a lawsuit with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, which publishes the U.K. tabloid The Sun and others. He also received an apology for ‘serious intrusion’ into his private life using unlawful means.
In 2025, Prince Harry settled a separate lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Groups Newspapers (NGN), with the publisher paying unspecified damages and issuing an apology for ‘serious intrusion’ into Harry’s private life using unlawful means at its Sun tabloid and long-defunct News of the World.