Prince Harry, 6 others ordered to pay initial $13M in failed UK tabloid case
Prince Harry and six other defendants, including Elton John, Sadie Frost, and Elizabeth Hurley, have been ordered to pay nearly $13 million in an initial payment to the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
The ruling from a U.K. judge was published Friday, just weeks after the defendants lost their High Court privacy case against the publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited, which they had accused of unlawful information gathering.
High Court Justice Matthew Nicklin wrote in the 44-page ruling that the 9.5 million pounds -- approximately $13 million -- is a "first installment" to cover Associated Newspapers' legal costs, with the full amount still to be determined.
Associated Newspapers has previously said its legal costs in the case total more than $60 million.
The yearslong court battle began in 2022 when Harry and six other parties first launched legal action, accusing Associated Newspapers of allegedly hiring private investigators, who they claim used unlawful means to gather information on them in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including secretly placing listening devices inside cars and homes and allegedly paying police officials for inside information.
Associated Newspapers denied the allegations, calling them "preposterous" and saying the claims were "unsubstantiated and highly defamatory" and "based on no credible evidence."
In a July 7 judgment, Nicklin dismissed the claims, saying Harry and his fellow claimants had "failed to prove their pleaded allegations of [unlawful information gathering]."
Harry, who testified in the case, called the decision a "complete and obvious whitewash" in a statement when the decision was announced.
Associated Newspapers called the dismissal an "overwhelming victory" and a "magnificent vindication" in a statement at the time. The publisher described the allegations of unlawful information gathering as "outrageous" and said "no credible evidence was ever presented."
Neither Harry nor his fellow defendants have commented publicly on the initial $13 million payment order.
Associated Newspapers described the order as an "overwhelming victory for the Mail and its journalism" in a statement Friday.
"We thank Mr Justice Nicklin for the care he has taken over this application, and throughout the litigation," the statement said, in part. "The Mail has worked continuously for the past four and a half years to defend the reputations of its hard-working and honest journalists against smears that date back three decades and would have destroyed their careers."
The judge's latest ruling comes as Harry and his family, including wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and the couple's two young children, Archie and Lilibet, prepare to move back to the U.K.
The Sussexes, who currently live in California, will remain private individuals and non-working royals, as they have been since stepping down from their senior royal roles in 2020, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News this week.
