Prince Harry has secured
a victory in his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited.
Parts of an article in The
Mail on Sunday over the Duke’s legal claim against the Home Office were
indeed “defamatory”, a High Court judge has ruled.
In February, the paper ran a
story under the headline, “Exclusive: How Prince Harry tried to keep his
legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a secret… then – just
minutes after the story broke – his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on
the dispute.”
In Friday’s ruling, Mr.
Justice Nicklin found that parts of the article in the claim were
defamatory. He said the article did not suggest that Harry “was
seeking to keep his ‘legal battle’ with the Government secret,” though it
was suggested by the headline if read alone.
Discussing one of the meanings
of the article, Mr. Justice Nicklin said a reader would think Harry “was
responsible for public statements, issued on his behalf, which claimed that he
was willing to pay for police protection in the UK and that his legal challenge
was to the Government’s refusal to permit him to do so, whereas the true
position, as revealed in documents filed in the legal proceedings, was
that he had only made the offer to pay after the proceedings had commenced”.
The senior judge also said the
article would have been read as alleging Harry “was responsible for trying
to mislead and confuse the public as to the true position, which was ironic
given that he now held a public role in tackling ‘misinformation'”.
Mr Justice Nicklin added:
“It may be possible to ‘spin’ facts in a way that does not mislead,
but the allegation being made in the article was very much that the object
was to mislead the public. That supplies the necessary element to make the
meanings defamatory at common law.”
Friday’s judgment only relates
to the “objective meaning” of the article, Mr. Justice Nicklin said,
adding it is the first stage in the libel claim. This means the case can
now go forward to a full trial.
In a written statement to last
month’s preliminary hearing, Harry said it had caused him “substantial
hurt, embarrassment and distress, which is continuing”.
