Prince Charles wins return of journals from Mail on Sunday

The Prince of Wales today won the return of his private travel journals, which were leaked to the Mail on Sunday.

After a protracted series of legal hearings, lawyers for the newspaper today told Mr Justice Blackburne at London’s High Court that it was not opposing court orders sought by Prince Charles requiring the return of eight leaked journals, and banning any further publication of details contained in them.

Extracts from only one journal have been published by the paper.

However, the newspaper was granted a “stay” preserving its position on earlier rulings in the case until a House of Lords ruling, expected in a few weeks’ time, on its application for permission to appeal against an earlier key ruling in the case.

The Mail on Sunday hopes to win the go-ahead to bring a full challenge before the Law Lords to a Court of Appeal decision that the paper breached the princes privacy, confidentiality and copyright by publishing passages from his 1997 journal about the handover of Hong Kong to China.

The journal, titled: “The Handover Of Hong Kong or The Great Chinese Takeaway”, was one of eight journals given to the Mail on Sunday by one of the Prince’s former secretaries, Sarah Goodall, even though she had signed a confidentiality agreement.

Prince Charles is expected to mount a further claim against the newspaper for damages.