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Prince Harry and six other public figures have been ordered to make an initial £9.54 million payment toward the legal costs of Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail.
The payment is due by Aug. 28. It follows the group’s failed privacy case against the publisher.
The court has not yet decided the final amount the seven claimants will have to pay. Associated Newspapers told the court that its legal costs reached £34.5 million. The judge did not simply order the group to pay that full figure. A separate assessment will determine the final amount. That distinction matters. The £9.54 million figure is an interim payment, while the £34.5 million figure represents the publisher’s reported costs.
Why the legal bill could grow
The costs ruling follows the High Court’s decision in July to reject the claimants’ case against Associated Newspapers.
Prince Harry, Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Doreen Lawrence and Simon Hughes had accused the publisher of unlawful information gathering.
Judge Matthew Nicklin rejected those claims. He also criticized how the case had been presented and ruled that the publisher’s additional costs should be assessed on an indemnity basis. That approach can allow a successful party to recover more of its legal costs than under the usual standard.
However, the judge also raised concerns about the size of Associated Newspapers’ £34.5 million costs claim. That means the legal dispute over money is not finished. The publisher still has to have its costs assessed if the parties cannot reach an agreement. The court will then determine how much can ultimately be recovered.
What happens next for Prince Harry
The seven claimants now face a financial question that extends beyond the initial £9.54 million payment. Their reported insurance coverage was about £16 million. That is well below the publisher’s £34.5 million claimed costs.
No final decision has been announced on an appeal of the original judgment. Reuters reported that the full amount owed to Associated Newspapers had not yet been determined.
The ruling also arrives as Prince Harry prepares to return to the United Kingdom with Meghan and their children after several years living in California. For now, the clearest number is £9.54 million. That is the amount the claimants have been ordered to pay as an interim contribution by Aug. 28. The much larger £34.5 million figure remains a claim that still has to go through the costs assessment process.
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