Prince Harry to Miss First Day of U.K. Trial, Dismissing Reports He Was Set to Receive Police Protection

Prince Harry will not travel to London for the first day of his trial against Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun, refuting claims that he was set to receive “limited police protection” during his stay.

PEOPLE understands that Harry will not attend the first day of the NGN trial on Tuesday, Jan. 21, but is scheduled to testify in court in February, debunking false reports about supposed security offers.

The Duke of Sussex’s trial against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of The Sun, centers on allegations of unlawful information gathering by journalists and private investigators. Harry is set to testify later in the proceedings, which are taking place alongside former Labour MP Tom Watson. NGN has denied any wrongdoing.

The news refutes recent reports that Harry was set to receive “limited protection” from the Metropolitan Police despite his legal defeat over his request for security. It was also reported that Harry declined an offer to stay at Buckingham Palace this week. A source reportedly told The Mirror that Harry was offered accommodation at the royal residence but chose to turn it down.

Harry is currently locked in another legal battle over a ruling, made last February, to remove the automatic right to security for him and his family. The initial decision was made in February 2020 when he and wife, Meghan Markle, stepped away from their roles as working royals.

Harry has taken the issue, which has contributed to the ongoing tension between Harry and his father, King Charles, to the courts for more than four years. He lost an initial decision in April, but is appealing it, and the case is set to be heard in the spring of 2025.

As his U.K. tabloid-focused trial begins this week, Harry is set to take the stand later in the proceedings. Just last month, he vowed to continue with his lawsuit, driven in part by his belief that the actions of a few journalists were undermining public trust in the media. During his appearance at The New York Times’s DealBook Summit in December, the Duke of Sussex remarked: “I am the last person that can actually achieve [accountability].”

“I will be damned if those journalists are going to ruin journalism for everyone, because we depend on it,” he added.

Once one of about 40 plaintiffs suing Murdoch’s publications, Harry stands as one of only two still fighting, with dozens of others settling their claims. Prominent people and celebrities, including actors Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, were involved in the suit, but they have largely settled their part of the case. Grant explained in April 2024 that he felt he had no choice as he might be hit with bills running into more than $10 million, even if he was successful.

In a lengthy thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, Grant wrote, “News Group are claiming they are entirely innocent of the things I had accused The Sun of doing — phone hacking, unlawful information gathering, landline tapping, the burglary of my flat and office, the bugging of my car, the illegal blagging of medical records, lies, perjury and the destruction of evidence.”

“As is common with entirely innocent people, they are offering me an enormous sum of money to keep this matter out of court,” he continued on the social media platform.

“I don’t want to accept this money or settle. I would love to see all the allegations that they deny tested in court,” he added. “But the rules around civil litigation mean that if I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides.”

A spokesperson for NGN told PEOPLE in a statement at the time that it admitted no liability in the settlement and said that settling the case was “in both parties’ financial interests not to progress to a costly trial.”

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In December, during a chat with The New York Times columnist and Dealbook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin, Prince Harry said Grant felt they had to settle. He added he had other motivations: “One of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability, because I’m the last person that can actually achieve that,” The Observer newspaper reported on Jan. 19.