Prince Harry, Elton John and More to Pay $13 Million in Legal Costs to U.K. Publisher After Losing Case
Prince Harry, Elton John and More to Pay $13 Million in Legal Costs to U.K. Publisher After Losing Case
Stephanie PetitFri, August 21, 2026 at 1:22 PM UTC
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Prince Harry attends court in London on April 9, 2025Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty -
Prince Harry and his fellow claimants must make an interim payment of $13 million after losing their legal case against the publishers of the Daily Mail
In July, Justice Matthew Nicklin declared that the Duke of Sussex and six other high-profile claimants — including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley —failed to prove that publications had engaged in illegal information gathering
The court has not determined how much of the legal costs the claimants must ultimately pay
The initial costs have been revealed after Prince Harry and his fellow claimants lost a legal case against a U.K. publisher.
On July 7, Justice Matthew Nicklin declared that the Duke of Sussex and six other high-profile claimants — Elton John and his husband David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sir Simon Hughes, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Jude Law’s ex-wife, Sadie Frost — had lost their case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, failing to prove that the publications had engaged in illegal information gathering. ANL strongly denied the claims.
Mr. Justice Nicklin delivered his written ruling on Aug. 21, which was obtained by PEOPLE, in which the court ordered the claimants to make an interim payment of $13 million (£9,544,355) by 4 p.m. on Aug. 28.
The final figure remains to be determined.
After the news of the claimants’ loss, a follow-up hearing was held in late July to determine how much of ANL’s legal costs the claimants will be liable for. In his opening submission, ANL lawyer Antony White argued for payment on an “indemnity basis,” in which the losing party is ordered to pay the winner’s actual legal costs, whether or not they are proportionate to the case.
In their court filing shared with PEOPLE, ANL declared its legal costs to be $45.8 million, which Nicholas Bacon, the lawyer for the claimants, called an “eye-watering” overestimation.
The Telegraph reported that Prince Harry and some of his fellow claimants have an insurance policy in the case. However, the insurance only covers around $23.4 million.
The lawsuit against ANL was first filed in October 2022. Claimants alleged that the outlets had published stories about them with information that had been sourced unlawfully. However, Mr. Justice Nicklindismissed all claims, stating the claimants’ evidence failed to prove that the articles at the center of the case were the product of unlawful information gathering.
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ANL released a statement following the ruling calling the judge’s decision an “overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists, and for a free press generally.”
Prince Harry and fellow claimant Baroness Doreen Lawrence released a lengthy, scathing statement after the ruling, which referred to the outcome as “a complete and obvious whitewash.”
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“We came to Court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither,” Harry and Baroness Lawrence said, in part. “The lengths to which the Court has gone to exonerate the Mail is as shocking as it is totally unwarranted.”
“It feels here like one rule for the newspapers and another for the claimants. While the Claimants presented evidence, Mail journalists simply gave denials, and the Court chose uncritically to believe them, even in the face of inconsistencies, contradictions and blatant untruths that were obvious to neutral observers in Court when compared to the documents,” they added. “We presented to the Court evidence which we believed was compelling at the time and remains so now. We would like to thank our legal team for all their hard work and all the witnesses who were brave enough to come forward in the pursuit of justice.”
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, 45, have had some success battling U.K. publishers over privacy concerns. They received a symbolic £1 ($1.36) in damages from the Mail on Sunday after successfully winning their legal case against the paper for publishing a personal letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle, in 2018.
The Duke of Sussex also reached a settlement with the publisher of The Sunlast January, which paid an eight-figure sum in damages and issued an apology acknowledging unlawful actions.
The news comes in the wake of the news that Prince Harry and Meghan’s family are moving back to Britain after living in California for six years.
on People
Source: “AOL Breaking”
