David Furnish, the spouse of British singer Elton John, testified at London’s High Court that the Daily Mail’s publisher had illegally acquired information about them, believed to be obtained through their friend, Prince Harry. Furnish, a Canadian producer and one of the seven claimants in the lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, accused the Mail titles of displaying discriminatory behavior towards their relationship.
Associated Newspapers refuted the allegations of unauthorized access and phone hacking made by Furnish, John, and the other claimants. The publisher’s legal representative, Catrin Evans, suggested that the information in question might have originated from various media sources, John’s official website, or statements from his spokesperson. However, Furnish, appearing via video link, insisted that the details disclosed in the Mail articles were highly specific.
Furnish became the sixth claimant to provide evidence in the high-profile court case, following Prince Harry, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, former politician Simon Hughes, and anti-racism advocate Doreen Lawrence. Elton John is scheduled to testify on the following day.
The lawsuit filed by Furnish and John concerns ten articles published between 2002 and 2015, including a 2007 piece in the Mail on Sunday detailing a commemorative concert for the late Princess Diana, Harry’s mother. Harry mentioned in his statement that he presumed he and John would have exchanged voicemails about the event, while the Mail’s legal team argued that the information was obtained from reputable royal sources.
In his written testimony, Furnish alleged that their home’s landlines had been compromised, and the Mail was complicit in obtaining information through their relationships with Elizabeth Hurley and Prince Harry. He expressed Elton’s admiration for Prince Harry and criticized the Mail for consistently publishing critical and narrow-minded narratives about them.
Furnish highlighted an incident related to a 2010 article regarding their surrogacy, where the Mail acquired their son’s birth certificate ahead of them, a situation he described as distressing. He condemned the Mail for exploiting their friendships to gather information and violating their family’s privacy, emphasizing the invasion of their home and the unauthorized access to Elton’s medical records.
In a separate legal development, Prince Harry settled a lawsuit in 2025 against Rupert Murdoch’s News Groups Newspapers, receiving undisclosed damages and an apology for the intrusive and unlawful invasion of his privacy through The Sun tabloid and the now-defunct News of the World.
The ongoing trial has attracted significant media attention and public interest, shedding light on the privacy concerns and alleged breaches faced by public figures like Elton John and Prince Harry.