The Duke of Sussex has publicly attacked the High Court judge who dismissed his phone-hacking claim against the Daily Mail, issuing a statement jointly with Baroness Lawrence that accused Mr Justice Nicklin of bias and an "obvious whitewash". The intervention is significant because it saw a claimant openly question the impartiality of a senior judge just hours after a landmark ruling, which the newspaper hailed as an "overwhelming vindication" of its journalism.

In the 374-word statement, Harry noted that Mr Justice Nicklin had previously acted for newspapers, including Mirror Group Newspapers, and argued that the judgment reversed the position taken in earlier successful hacking cases against News Group Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers. He claimed that findings about private investigators found to have acted unlawfully in parallel cases had been "wholly ignored", describing the outcome as a "shocking" and "totally unwarranted" exoneration of the Daily Mail and suggesting there was "one rule for newspapers and another for claimants".