David Furnish, the spouse of renowned British singer Elton John, testified in London’s High Court on Thursday, alleging that the Daily Mail publisher had illicitly acquired information about them, including details purportedly taken from their friend, Prince Harry. Furnish, a Canadian producer involved in a lawsuit alongside John and five others against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail, claimed that the Mail publications had been openly discriminatory towards their relationship.
Associated Newspapers refuted the accusations of unauthorized information gathering and phone hacking put forth by Furnish, John, and the other claimants, asserting that the data reported in their newspapers was either already in the public domain or sourced legitimately. During the proceedings, the publisher’s attorney, Catrin Evans, suggested that the content in question might have originated from various media outlets, John’s official website, or statements issued by his spokesperson. However, Furnish, providing testimony via video link, insisted that the specifics in the Mail articles exceeded information available through those channels.
Furnish became the sixth claimant to present evidence in the high-profile legal dispute, following Prince Harry, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, former lawmaker Simon Hughes, and anti-racism activist Doreen Lawrence. Elton John is scheduled to provide his testimony on Friday. The case brought by Furnish and John pertains to ten articles published between 2002 and 2015, including a piece from 2007 in the Mail on Sunday covering a commemorative concert for the late Princess Diana’s 10th death anniversary.
In his written submission, Furnish alleged that their home’s phone lines had been compromised and implied the Mail’s involvement in the misappropriation of information from their associates, Elizabeth Hurley and Prince Harry. He expressed Elton John’s admiration for Prince Harry and criticized the Daily Mail for consistently portraying them in a negative light. Furnish recounted an incident in 2010 where the Mail obtained their son’s birth certificate before they did, labeling it as deeply troubling. He voiced his dismay over the violation of their privacy and the unauthorized access to personal documents.
Furthermore, in a separate legal development in 2025, Prince Harry settled a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, receiving undisclosed damages and an apology for the invasive tactics used by The Sun tabloid and the now-defunct News of the World.
