Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world
Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email
The Duke of Sussex has withdrawn his libel claim against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of The Mail on Sunday, a spokesperson for the company said.
Harry, 39, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over a February 2022 article about his legal challenge to the Home Office following a decision to change his publicly funded security arrangements when visiting the UK.
The duke’s lawyers claimed the story “purported to reveal, in sensational terms” that information from court documents “contradicted public statements he had previously made about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family whilst in the UK”.
ANL contested the claim, arguing the article expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause “serious harm” to his reputation.
In a ruling last month, the duke lost a bid to have ANL’s “honest opinion” thrown out by a judge and was ordered to pay £48,447 towards the publisher’s lawyers’ bills.
High Court judge Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that ANL could proceed with the “honest opinion” defence.
A spokeswoman for the publisher confirmed to the PA news agency that Harry had withdrawn his case.
Harry is challenging the decision by the Royalty and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec) not to grant him automatic police protection in the UK since stepping down as a senior member of the British royal family and moving to California with his family.
In written submissions, Harry’s lawyer Justin Rushbrooke KC argued that the newspaper’s defence should be thrown out because it rested on “two provably false premises” relating to a press statement released by Harry when he made the legal challenge.
His statement read: “The duke first offered to pay personally for UK police protection for himself and his family in January of 2020 at Sandringham.
“That offer was dismissed. He remains willing to cover the cost of security, as not to impose on the British taxpayer.”
However, Ravec said his offer of private funding “notably was not advanced” to the department.
The Mail on Sunday described this as “a crushing rebuttal to Harry’s initial public statement that implied he had always been willing to foot the bill” while adding that the press statement issued on behalf of the duke confused the media and misinformed the public.
