A London judge has ordered Prince Harry to pay legal fees to the publisher of The Daily Mail, Mail Online and Mail on Sunday, ANL (Associated Newspapers Limited), in the latest stage of his libel lawsuit failed.
While the full sum is yet to be agreed upon, he must pay £50,000 (approx. AUD $95,000) ‘on account’ before December 29, 2023.
Harry had hoped to nix Associated Newspapers Limited’s defence argument of “honest opinion”, in a suit he brought against it regarding a February 2022 article, claiming that it was “fundamentally inaccurate”.
The article in question alleged that Prince Harry had aimed for “far-reaching and unjustifiably” high confidentiality restrictions in his case against the Home Office (regarding his security when in the UK), to keep it out of the press.
It also suggested that Prince Harry’s PR team issued a public statement on his behalf which “spun” the story to imply that he had sued the Home Office due to their refusal to let him pay for his own security, when no offer was reportedly made to pay either the Home Office or RAVEC (Royal and VIP Executive Committee) until after the case had been brought.
ANL is defending both article meanings with a ‘statement of fact’ defence, while another meaning in the article (that Harry’s lack of offer to pay rebuts the initial public statement made that implied he had always been willing to pay for his security) is being defended under ‘expression of opinion’.
The judge on the case, Justice Matthew Nicklin, ruled in the High Court that ANL had a “real prospect” of showcasing that statements issued on Prince Harry’s behalf around the time of him exiting the royal family, pertaining to public funds for security protection, were misleading.
“The defendant (ANL) may well submit that this was a masterclass in the art of ‘spinning’,” Justice Nicklin wrote in his ruling.
The next stage of the libel trial will be scheduled between May 17 and July 31, 2024.
This is not the only case that Prince Harry has going against ANL. There is another lawsuit where a group of celebrities, including Prince Harry, Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, are suing three British tabloid publishers, claiming that they dig up information using unlawful means (including deception, phone hacking and private investigators).
