UK tabloids 'victory' against Prince Harry will be short-lived

Prince Harry's legal battle is far from over. The Duke of Sussex could be back at the High Court for a trial - accusing The Sun of serious illegal activity, said a senior British journalist after London's High Court give its ruling on Thursday.

The court ruled Harry can take some of his lawsuit against media magnate Rupert Murdoch's tabloids to trial, but claims of decades-old phone hacking were thrown out for being filed too late.

The court also rejected one of Harry's central arguments, that there had been a "secret deal" struck between Buckingham Palace and Murdoch's newspaper group to keep quiet the illegal hacking into voicemails of royals' mobile phones.

According to ITV journalist Rebecca Barry, News Group said it’s “a significant victory” which “substantially reduces the scope of his legal claim.“

She added, But this legal battle is far from over. As soon as January, Prince Harry could be back at the High Court for a trial - accusing The Sun of serious illegal activity."

Harry is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over alleged invasions of privacy by its tabloids, the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.

It is one of four cases that the 38-year-old prince, who now lives in California with his wife Meghan and their two children, is pursuing at the High Court against British publishers. He casts the legal actions as a mission to hold tabloid executives to account for lying and covering up widescale wrongdoing.