LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and six others, including Elton John, are set to find out Friday how many millions of pounds they will have to pay initially to the publisher of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper following their failed invasion of privacy case.
Following their defeat in a High Court case in London last month alleging malpractice, such as the illegal hacking of phones, the high-profile figures will learn the scale of their exposure to the roughly 34 million pounds ($46 million) in legal costs accumulated by Associated Newspapers Ltd. The losing claimants are believed to be insured for around half that total.
In addition to an initial payment, which could be up to 10 million pounds, they will find out how they will pay the outstanding amount.
The publisher had strongly denied the claims made during the 11-week trial in London, which ended on July 7 when Justice Matthew Nicklin said there had been a shortage of evidence to support the claims and found a possibility that the reporting came from legitimate sources.
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Nicklin is due to give his decision on the financial implications of that decision in a written statement at 2 p.m.
Associated Newspapers has asked for more than 9.9 million pounds as an interim payment, while lawyers for the claimants say the interim payment should be just over 7.9 million pounds.
The other high-profile figures behind the case were Doreen Lawrence, the anti‑racism activist whose son Stephen was stabbed to death in 1993 as he waited for a bus; Elton John’s film producer husband David Furnish; actors Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley; and politician Simon Hughes.
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The judgment comes two days after it was made public that Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, are moving back to the U.K. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are no longer working royals, decamped to California more than six years ago but will relocate back later this month to live in a nonroyal residence outside London.
Harry’s defeat against Associated Newspapers brought an end to a trio of lawsuits accusing tabloid publishers of using unlawful tactics, such as phone hacking or hiring private detectives to dig up dirt on his life.
Harry won a judgment in 2023 that condemned the publishers of the Daily Mirror for “widespread and habitual” phone hacking. Last year, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship U.K. tabloid, The Sun, made an unprecedented apology for intruding on his life for years and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit.
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Harry has said his litigation — in which he broke with royal family tradition to seek relief in the courts — was a primary source of his falling out with his father, King Charles III, and brother Prince William.
His grudge with the tabloids runs deep and his legal actions are part of his larger quest to reform the news media that he says damaged his relationships and made him “ paranoid beyond belief.”
He blames the press for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris, and for attacks on his wife, Meghan, that led the couple to abandon royal life and move to the United States in 2020.
