Harry and Meghan Could Be on Hook for ‘Eyewatering’ Millions for Failed Lawsuit as Tabloid Goes for the ‘Jugular’

Prince Harry is facing the prospect of millions of dollars in legal fees stemming from his failed lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail — and no Crown coffers to help him pay. The liability stems from the ruling by the London High Court last month that comprehensively cut against the Duke of Sussex, the singer Elton John, and five others who alleged that Associated Newspapers had engaged in illegal invasions of privacy, including phone hacking. The claimants wanted $67 million in damages. The prince called the verdict “a complete and obvious whitewash.” Associated called it an “overwhelming victory.”Both sides were back in court on Wednesday to haggle over how much of Associated’s legal bills the vanquished claimants are obligated to pay. Associated is pushing the court to adopt an “indemnity” approach to apportioning costs, which would lift the need to show that the total is proportionate. Associated represented that their outlay for the case has been £34.5 million. The claimants, including Prince Harry, have insurance for only £16 million. That leaves a gap of some £18.5 million pounds, or $25 million. The lawyer for Associated, Anthony White, accused Prince Harry and his fellow claimants of mounting “a banquet of litigation” that sent their coasts soaring. He also called the prince’s criticism of the original ruling “entirely inappropriate and unreasonable” given the duke’s royal status. The prince’s lawyer, Nicholas Bacon, calls Associated’s demand “eye watering” and accuses the tabloid publisher of going “for the jugular.”Prince Harry’s attorneys have offered an interim payment of £8 million by August 28, but are disputing the total sum being demanded by Associated. The claimants assert that they “have approached this litigation in good faith, under the burden of decades of intense, intrusive media scrutiny.” In January Prince Harry testified at trial that Daily Mail journalists “continue to come after me, they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery.”Justice Matthew Nickin, though, “rejected the argument that, simply because information was private, and because Associated could not positively explain how it had been sourced, the relevant article must have been unlawfully sourced.” Prince Harry accused the press of “clear, systematic, and sustained use of unlawful information gathering.” Justice Nicklin, though, reckoned that “suspicion, even where understandable, was not enough.”Prince Harry’s defeat in this case comes after a string of successful litigation against Fleet Street — he won symbolic damages against the Mirror Group in 2023 and settled with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers for more than $12 million last year. In 2020 Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle signed multiyear deals with Netflix for $100 million and Spotify for $20 million. Prince Harry received a $20 million advance for his bestselling memoir, “Spare.”When the Sussexes abjured their status as “working royals” in 2020 to move to Montecito they also forfeited the fiscal support — taxpayer funded — of the Crown. They also paid back some $3 million that had been used to renovate their erstwhile residence, Frogmore Cottage. The Sussexes have also clashed with the British Home Office over security. They maintain that they — and their children — should be entitled to the blanket protection offered to other royals, not covered on a case by case approach.The verdict against Prince Harry was handed down when he was back in Britain for a slate of charity events, including promotion of the Invictus Games. The trip got off to a rocky start on the familial front after the prince announced that he would be staying at Buckingham Palace, the 755-room home that is also the administrative lodestar of the monarchy. Fifteen minutes after that announcement, the Crown declared that “staffing” issues rendered it impossible to host Prince Harry.The prince reckoned that he had suffered a “withdrawal” of royal hospitality, a slight he found “disappointing.” Relationships, though, appeared to be mended enough that an 11th hour meeting —on the final day of Prince Harry’s trip — was arranged between the Sussexes and the king and queen. The setting was Highgrove House, the ruler’s private country residence at Gloucestershire. Vanity Fair called the reunion a “cloak and dagger” operation that did not include Prince William or Princess Kate.A sequel of sorts could transpire in September, when Prince Harry is set to return to Britain to attend the annual WellChild Awards, a charity he patronizes. It is not yet known whether the Royal Family will gather in whole or in part during that visit. A poll released by YouGov on Thursday found that Ms. Markle’s approval rating in the United Kingdom is now minus 43. Nevertheless, there has been some speculation that the Sussex’s are eyeing a return to Blighty.

Harry and Meghan Could Be on Hook for ‘Eyewatering’ Millions for Failed Lawsuit as Tabloid Goes for the ‘Jugular’

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