Duke of Sussex withdraws high court case against newspaper publisher

In a strategic move, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has chosen to prioritize the “safety of his family” and ongoing legal action against the Home Office over a High Court libel claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), according to his spokesperson.

The 39-year-old duke had initiated legal proceedings against ANL regarding a Mail on Sunday article from February 2022. The article covered Prince Harry’s challenge against the Home Office’s decision to alter his publicly-funded security arrangements during visits to the UK.

The lawsuit contended that the article, which claimed to reveal information from court documents, contradicted public statements made by Prince Harry about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK. His legal team argued that the piece was an “attack on his honesty and integrity” and could undermine his charity work and efforts against online misinformation.

ANL contested the claim, asserting that the article expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause “serious harm” to Prince Harry’s reputation. The legal dispute was headed for a three-day trial scheduled between May 17 and July 31 this year, but the duke has now withdrawn the libel case.

A spokesperson for the Sussexes stated, “As is the nature with legal proceedings, years have lapsed since this complaint was first filed. In the time since, the main hearing relating to the duke’s judicial review has taken place, and we are awaiting the final decision as to whether Ravec (The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures) acted lawfully with regard to his security. His focus remains there, and on the safety of his family, rather than these legal proceedings that give a continued platform to the Mail’s false claims all those years ago.”

The spokesperson noted that it is “premature” to speculate on how legal costs will be determined. Prince Harry withdrew the case just over a month after losing a bid to dismiss ANL’s “honest opinion” defence. The judge ruled that the publisher had a “real prospect” of successfully demonstrating at trial that Harry’s previous press statements provided a “misleading” description of his case against the Home Office.

The Duke of Sussex is still awaiting a ruling from a different judge in his separate claim against the Home Office over a decision to alter the degree of his personal protection.

This legal development follows Prince Harry being awarded £140,600 in damages after a High Court judge ruled that his phone was likely hacked “to a modest extent” by Mirror Group Newspapers. Additionally, the duke has brought separate High Court claims against ANL and News Group Newspapers over allegations of unlawful information gathering.