Prince Harry and Six Others Ordered to Pay £9.5m After Losing Privacy Case
Prince Harry and six other public figures have been ordered to pay an initial £9.5 million towards the legal costs of the publisher of the Daily Mail after losing a major privacy case.
The High Court in London ruled that the group must make the payment to Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. The amount is equivalent to around $13 million.
The claimants, including Sir Elton John, actress Elizabeth Hurley and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, had accused ANL of unlawful information-gathering practices, including alleged phone hacking and the use of private investigators.
However, Justice Matthew Nicklin dismissed their claims following an 11-week trial, finding that the allegations had not been sufficiently proven. The judge also criticised the way the case had been pursued, describing the claimants' conduct as highly unreasonable.
The court has ordered the initial payment to be made by August 28. The final legal bill could be significantly higher, with Associated Newspapers seeking to recover more than £34 million in costs. The claimants could potentially face an additional liability of around £25 million, depending on further decisions by the court.
Harry and the other claimants had argued that the publisher had unlawfully obtained private information for stories published over a number of years. The judge ultimately concluded that the evidence presented did not establish the alleged wrongdoing.
Associated Newspapers welcomed the ruling, describing it as an important victory for its journalism. Harry and Baroness Lawrence, however, criticised the judgment and described it as a “whitewash”.
The claimants have until October 2 to seek permission to appeal the ruling.
The case represents another significant legal setback for Prince Harry in his long-running campaign against sections of the British tabloid press's
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