Prince Harry and other prominent individuals have been ordered by London’s High Court to pay an initial sum of £9.54 million ($17.9 million Cdn) towards the legal expenses of the Daily Mail’s publisher following their unsuccessful privacy lawsuits. Judge Matthew Nicklin recently dismissed the claims made by Prince Harry and several others, refuting allegations of illicit activities such as phone hacking by the Mail titles.
Among the well-known figures who took legal action against Associated Newspapers were singer Elton John and his husband David Furnish, along with actors Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley. The list of claimants also included former Liberal Democratic MP Simon Hughes and anti-racism activist Doreen Lawrence, who rose to prominence after her son Stephen’s tragic murder in 1993.
In his ruling on legal costs, Nicklin criticized the manner in which the claimants presented their case, highlighting that the serious allegations were largely based on speculative and inferential grounds. The spokesman for Associated Newspapers hailed the court’s decision as another significant triumph for the publication and its journalistic practices.
The ruling mandates that the outstanding amount be paid on an “indemnity basis,” indicating that as the losing party, Prince Harry and the other claimants are required to contribute towards the publisher’s legal fees without the need for justification of reasonableness or proportionality. During a July hearing, it was disclosed that Associated had accrued legal expenses amounting to £34.5 million ($64.7 million Cdn), surpassing the coverage provided by the claimants’ £16 million ($30 million Cdn) insurance policy.
Nicholas Bacon, the claimants’ lawyer, criticized Associated’s legal bill as excessive and beyond the agreed budget. While the decision to appeal remains pending, there was no immediate response from Prince Harry’s spokesperson on the recent ruling. The prince had previously expressed disappointment over the court defeat, labeling it as a “complete and obvious whitewash.”
In a separate legal battle, Prince Harry received a compensation of £140,600 (approximately $240,430 Cdn) after the High Court found him to be a victim of unauthorized phone-hacking and other illicit information gathering by journalists at the Mirror Group Newspapers.
The ongoing litigation represents the last in a series of lawsuits brought by Prince Harry against tabloid publishers for alleged unlawful practices. In 2023, Prince Harry made history by being the first British royal to provide testimony in a trial in over a century as part of one of the cases. Additionally, Rupert Murdoch’s News Group in the U.K. issued a formal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the phone hacking and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators under their employ.
The court dismissed claims of a clandestine arrangement between Murdoch’s newspaper group and Buckingham Palace to prevent royals from pursuing legal action. The detailed ruling of the recent court decision can be accessed for further information.
