Prince Harry wins ‘substantial damages’ and apology over Mail article
Prince Harry has been awarded “substantial damages” and an apology over a Mail on Sunday article that claimed he had turned his back on the military after stepping down as a senior royal.
The Duke of Sussex sued Associated Newspapers, part of DMGT, for libel over two articles published in October that said he had lost touch with the Royal Marines and ignored correspondence from a former British military chief.
“All of these allegations are false as the Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online have accepted, albeit after considerable damage was already done,” his lawyer, Jenny Afia, told a remote hearing at the High Court today.
The newspaper group has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum in damages, which Harry will donate to the Invictus Games, the competition he founded for injured servicemen and women.
The Mail on Sunday had published an apology in December, but Harry argued it was not displayed prominently and asked for the statement to be read out in court.
Afia added: “The baseless, false and defamatory stories… constituted not only a personal attack on the duke’s character but also wrongly brought into question his service to this country.”
The ruling marks a victory for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their escalating battle with the British media.
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle last year said they would no longer engage with the Mail, alongside tabloid rivals the Sun, Mirror and Express, accusing them of false and invasive coverage.
Markle is separately suing the Mail on Sunday over an article that included parts of a handwritten article she wrote to her estranged father in 2018.
The duchess last month asked the High Court to rule that the paper breached her privacy and copyright without the need for a potentially embarrassing trial, which is set to take place later this year.