Prince Harry faces £750,000 bill after abandoning libel claim against Mail on Sunday over security row
19 January 2024, 14:41 | Updated: 19 January 2024, 15:28
Prince Harry faces paying huge legal costs after withdrawing his libel case against the Mail on Sunday.
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Hours before he was due to hand over relevant documents, the Duke of Sussex’s lawyers informed the High Court at 10am on Friday that he was “discontinuing” his case.
He faces having to pay the newspaper’s costs of £250,000 along with his own lawyers’ fees, meaning a total legal bill of more than £750,000.
Prince Harry sued Associated Newspapers Limited over an article published in February 2022 concerning his legal battle with the Home Office over security.
He claimed the story falsely suggested he had "lied" and "cynically" tried to manipulate public opinion.
The headline said the duke had "tried to keep his legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a secret" while the story said he had tried to keep parts of the dispute “secret” and had attempted to “spin” it in his favour by claiming he had offered to pay for police protection.
Associated argued that the story expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause him “serious harm”.
Last month, the Duke lost a bid to have the newspaper’s “honest opinion” defence thrown out.
Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that the publisher had a “real prospect of demonstrating that an honest person could have held the view” that a statement released by the Duke’s representatives was “a masterclass in the art of spinning”.
The judge ruled then that Harry must pay the £48,447 legal costs incurred by Associated in relation to that “summary judgment application” by December 29.
The ruling left the Duke forced to prove that the story had caused serious harm. As the claim progressed, each side was obliged to disclose any documents considered “relevant”, even if potentially harmful to their case.
The deadline for submitting those was today.
Meanwhile, the Duke is bringing separate legal proceedings against the Home Office after being told he was no longer automatically entitled to personal protective security when visiting from the US.
A spokeswoman for the publisher confirmed on Friday that Harry had withdrawn his case.
