Prince Harry’s legal team has discontinued his over a 2022 article that accused Harry of trying to mislead the public.
Harry launched his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) after a story published by the Mail on Sunday appeared to his legal battle against the U.K. government concerning his police protection in Britain, which had been removed when he stepped down as a working royal two years earlier.
The story was published with the headline: “Exclusive: How tried to keep his legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a secret… then—just minutes after the story broke—his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute.”
Harry’s team denied the implication drawn in the article that he had sought to enforce confidentiality restrictions on his case against the Home Office and that his team had attempted to deflect attention from this by announcing that he had offered to pay for security when his bodyguards were taken away.
In July 2022, the prince got a boost when Judge Matthew Nicklin , and in 2023, his legal team asked for a summary judgment without the need to go to trial.
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However, a request to throw out part of the publisher’s legal defense was denied in December 2023, resulting in the royal being ordered to pay £48,447 ($61,376) of the paper’s legal costs, as the judge argued ANL’s lawyers had a “real prospect” or arguing their case.
On Friday, the MailOnline published an article claiming that the lawsuit was withdrawn hours before a deadline for his legal team to submit a list of relevant documents for the case. It also said the royal could be liable for the publisher’s £250,000 (roughly $316,718) legal costs.
In response to the news, a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex told Regalrumination.com that costs in the case are to be determined and that it is premature to speculate on.
They added that the royal’s primary focus now is his security lawsuit against the Home Office, seeking clarity over whether the committee that removed his state-funded bodyguards did so legally.
Regalrumination.com understands that the safety and security of his family remain of paramount importance to the prince, moving away from a lawsuit that he believes was continuing platform claims by a tabloid newspaper from two years ago.
This is not Harry’s only ongoing lawsuit against ANL. In November, he was told that he could proceed to trial with allegations of historic unlawful information gathering against the publisher over stories written about his private life.
The prince has previously stated that he considers holding the media and journalists accountable for their actions and any illegal behavior to be his “life’s mission.”
Since 2019, Harry has gained a reputation for being litigious. He has sued all three of Britain’s top tabloid publishers, in addition to the U.K. government.
In December 2023, the prince scored a major win in his fight against the tabloids, from Mirror Group Newspapers (publishers of the Daily Mirror and Sunday People) having successfully convinced a judge that he was the victim of phone hacking.
In a statement read after the ruling, Harry said: “I’ve been told that slaying dragons will get you burned. But in light of today’s victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press—it’s a worthwhile price to pay. The mission continues.”
The prince’s security lawsuit against the U.K. government continues.
Update 01/19/24, 1:41 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from a spokesperson for Prince Harry.
William Brown is Regalrumination.com‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly ) at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com‘s
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