Prince Harry and Celebrity Group Respond to Court Order After £9.5m Blow

Prince Harry and six other high profile figures have reportedly responded to a major court order after losing their legal battle against a UK publisher with the group settling an initial payment of more than £9.5 million towards legal costs.

According to The Independent, the Duke of Sussex and the six other claimants have now paid the £9,544,355 ordered by the High Court as an initial contribution towards the costs incurred by Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail.

The group of seven prominent figures includes Prince Harry, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Elton John and actress Elizabeth Hurley, who had brought legal action against ANL over allegations involving unlawful information gathering.

However, the publisher strongly denied the allegations made against it. The claims eventually went before the High Court during an extensive 11-week trial held in London earlier this year, bringing the long-running legal dispute under intense scrutiny.

The case ultimately ended in defeat for Harry and the other claimants when Justice Nicklin dismissed all of their cases in a judgment delivered on July 7, handing the publisher a significant victory in the legal battle.

Attention subsequently turned from the original allegations to the substantial legal costs associated with the proceedings, with the cases returning to the High Court for a separate two-day hearing to determine how those expenses should be handled.

During that hearing, the court was told that ANL’s total legal costs had climbed to more than £34 million, demonstrating the enormous financial scale of the litigation following the lengthy trial and proceedings involving the seven claimants.

Justice Nicklin then issued another major ruling on August 21, ordering the group to pay £9,544,355 within seven days. The amount represented an initial contribution towards the publisher’s legal costs rather than necessarily the final amount the claimants could be required to pay.

Harry and the other celebrities have now reportedly complied with that court order by settling the initial £9.5 million payment, meeting the deadline imposed as the wider question surrounding the final legal bill remains to be determined.

The payment represents another significant development following the group’s defeat in the High Court, although further hearings are expected before the total amount ultimately payable towards ANL’s costs is established.

Justice Nicklin also ruled that the publisher’s costs should be assessed on an indemnity basis, aside from circumstances where separate orders had already been made. Such an assessment is more favourable to ANL regarding the amount of its legal expenses it may recover.

The ruling means the £9.5 million payment does not necessarily bring the financial consequences of the case to an end. Instead, it serves as an initial contribution while the courts continue dealing with the final calculation of the publisher’s recoverable costs.

For Prince Harry and the six other high-profile claimants, the development follows a substantial legal setback after their accusations against the publisher were rejected following the lengthy trial, while ANL maintained its strong denial of the unlawful information-gathering allegations throughout the proceedings.

With the initial £9,544,355 contribution now reportedly settled, attention will turn towards the upcoming costs proceedings and exactly how much of ANL’s reported legal bill of more than £34 million Harry and the other claimants will ultimately be ordered to pay.