Prince Harry and six other public figures, including Elton John, were convicted of paying £9.5 million to the Daily Mail publisher after losing a lawsuit for alleged privacy violations.
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21/08/2026
by
Lusa
O prince Harry and six people, including musician Elton John, were today sentenced to pay an initial amount of £9.5 million (€11 million) to the publisher of the British Daily Mail.
In a written decision now published, Judge Matthew Nicklin stated that payment will have to be made by August 28.
The remaining costs will have to be reimbursed at a later date by the complainants, who are protected by insurance covering around half of the total, possibly GBP 34 million (about EUR 40 million), to be fixed later.
The complainants lost a case at the London Supreme Court last month, during which they claimed a breach of privacy with illegal practices such as illegal piracy of mobile phones by Associated Newspapers.
The publisher claimed to have incurred costs of more than GBP 34 million (EUR 40 million) during the process.
The publisher vehemently denied the allegations made during the 11-week trial in London, which ended on July 7, when the judge stated that there was a lack of evidence to support the allegations and considered the possibility that the news originated from legitimate sources.
Other prominent figures behind the case were Doreen Lawrence, the anti-racist activist whose son Stephen was murdered in 1993 while waiting for the bus, film producer David Furnish, husband of Elton John, actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, and politician Simon Hughes.
The decision arises two days after it has been announced that Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, will return to live in the UK.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who no longer perform functions in the British royal family, moved to California more than six years ago, but are moving to live in an unknown residence outside London.
Harry's defeat against Associated Newspapers ended a series of three lawsuits in tabloid editors were accused of resorting to illegal tactics, such as interception of phone calls or hiring private detectives to uncover scandals about his life.
In 2023, Harry obtained a favorable sentence that condemned the Daily Mirror for intercepting “generalized and usual” telephone calls.
Last year, Rupert Murdoch's main British tabloid, The Sun, presented an unpublished apology for invading his life for years and agreed to pay substantial compensation to settle the lawsuit for privacy violation.
Harry stated that his litigation was the main cause of his disagreement with his father, King Charles III, and his brother, Prince William.
The Prince argued that these lawsuits were part of an effort to reform the British press, which was responsible for the death of her mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997 while being chased by photographers in Paris, and for the attacks on Meghan, who led the couple to move to the United States in 2020.