The Duke of Sussex has filed a High Court libel action against
the publisher of the Daily Mail.
A spokesperson for the Duke confirmed the news in a statement that
reads: “I can confirm the duke has filed a complaint against Associated
Newspapers Limited.”
Court filings show the Duke of Sussex filed a claim related to
an article published by The Mail On Sunday on Sunday 20 February relating to
issues on his family’s security, under the headline: ‘Revealed: How Harry tried
to keep his legal fight over bodyguards’ secret’.
Harry, 37, is also currently bringing privacy claims against News Group
Newspapers, which publishes The Sun, and Mirror Group Newspapers, now called
Reach plc, which publishes The Mirror, over alleged phone hacking and unlawful
information gathering.
The new claim comes after his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, was awarded £1 nominal damages in 2021, along
with an undisclosed sum that she donated to charity, after winning her case
against ANL.
She sued the publisher over a privacy claim alleging articles had
reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter to her
estranged father, Thomas Markle.
ANL was also ordered to issue a front-page apology and pay the duchess’s
legal costs.
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Harry last visited the UK in July 2021 for the Princess Diana statue unveiling
Harry is also involved in litigation against the Home
Office over his security arrangements when he is in the UK. He
wants to bring his children, Archie, two, and eight-month-old Lilibet, to visit from the US, but he and his family are “unable to return” because it is too
dangerous. The family personally funds a private protection team in
the US.
But he and Meghan lost their taxpayer-funded police protection in the UK
in the aftermath of stepping back as senior royals in March 2020. Harry, who
did not attend the first hearing in person, is arguing that his private protection
team in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK
intelligence information which is needed to keep his family safe.
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Prince Harry and Meghan with their two children
A legal representative for Harry previously said the Duke wants to fund
the security himself, rather than ask taxpayers to foot the bill.
However, Robert Palmer QC, for the Home Office, told the court that
Harry’s offer of private funding was “irrelevant”. The Home Office’s
written arguments also claim that Harry’s offer of funding was “notably
not advanced to Ravec” at the time of the Duke’s visit in June 2021, or in
any pre-action discussions.
Mr. Palmer later said in the written submissions that the Duke had
“failed to afford the necessary measure of respect” to the Home
Secretary and Ravec as “the expert, and democratically accountable,
decision-maker on matters of protective security and associated risk
assessment”.
