Prince Harry seeks summary judgement in Mail on Sunday defamation case

Prince Harry’s lawyers told a London court on Friday that the publisher of a UK tabloid had no viable defence to his claims an article was defamatory.

Prince Harry, King Charles’ younger son, sued Associated Newspapers last year over an article in its Mail on Sunday newspaper that alleged he offered to pay for police protection only after bringing a separate legal fight against the UK government.

Lawyers acting for the royal were in court on Friday seeking a summary judgement, hoping to win the case without going to trial.

The article in question stated Prince Harry had tried to keep secret details of his legal fight with the government over his publicly-funded protection — which was withdrawn after he stepped back from royal duties in 2020 — and that his aides had then tried to put a positive spin on it.

Prince Harry’s lawyers said the prince had offered to pay for police protection at a crisis meeting with the late Queen Elizabeth, his father and brother Prince William at the royal Sandringham estate in January 2020.

The prince’s lawyers said Associated Newspapers had no factual basis for its defence, and asked the court to give a summary judgement, a ruling in Harry’s favour without the need for a trial.

However, Associated Newspapers’ lawyers said it would rely on a strong argument of “honest opinion”, and that Prince Harry’s bid to win the case without a trial was “totally without merit”.

The publisher’s lawyer also argued in court papers that the article had not caused serious harm to Harry’s reputation, a requirement under English defamation law.

The judge will hand down a judgement at a later date.

In July last year, London’s High Court ruled that the Mail report, which accused Prince Harry of attempting to mislead the public, was defamatory — paving the way for him to take the case forward against one of Britain’s biggest media publishers.

Two years ago, Prince Harry’s spouse Meghan Markle won a summary judgement in her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday for printing parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.

Media intrusion since their 2018 marriage was part of the reason the couple cited for stepping back from royal duties and moving to California to forge new lives and careers.

In his memoir “Spare” and in the couple’s six-part Netflix documentary series, Prince Harry focused heavily on the media’s behaviour, and he has embarked on a series of legal battles with the tabloid press.

Later this month, there is due to be a hearing in another case he has brought alongside singer Elton John and others against Associated Newspapers over allegations of phone-tapping and other privacy breaches.

In May, his lawsuit against the Daily Mirror newspaper over accusations of phone-hacking will go to trial, with Prince Harry likely to give evidence.

He is also suing News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the now-defunct News of the World and The Sun, also for alleged phone-hacking.

Reuters