Prince Harry loses (again)

Good old Prince Harry has done it once again. In spite of all his strenuous efforts to avoid press intrusion, the renegade royal can’t stop making the headlines. The prince this morning lost his bid to have the Mail on Sunday (MoS) publisher’s defence to his libel claim thrown out of the courts. Lawyers for Associated Newspapers (ANL) slammed Harry’s case, saying it was ‘wholly without merit’ and ‘built on sand’. Ouch.

The Duke of Sussex is suing ANL over an article published in 2022 on his legal challenge against the Home Office after his security arrangements were changed. Harry’s legal team have called the piece an ‘attack on his honesty and integrity’ after it raised questions about the Duke’s claim that he was perfectly willing to pay for his own police protection. The MoS say the article expressed an ‘honest opinion’ and didn’t cause the Duke serious reputational harm. Harry was having none of it, so tried – and failed – to strike out the defence of honest opinion.