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The Duke of Sussex has withdrawn his libel case against the Mail on Sunday, just hours before he was due to hand over relevant documents to the High Court.
Prince Harry’s lawyers informed the court at 10am on Friday that he was “discontinuing” his case.
He faces having to pay the newspaper’s costs of £250,000 along with his own lawyers’ fees, meaning a potential legal bill of more than £750,000.
At 10.06am, the Duke’s legal firm, Schillings, informed the newspaper it had filed a notice with the court stating: “The Duke of Sussex discontinues all of this claim.”
Prince Harry sued Associated Newspapers Limited over an article published in February 2022 concerning his legal battle with the Home Office over security.
The story said he had tried to keep parts of the dispute “secret” and had attempted to “spin” it in his favour by claiming he had offered to pay for police protection.
Associated argued that the story expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause the royal “serious harm”.
Last month, the Duke lost a bid to have the newspaper’s “honest opinion” defence thrown out.
Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that the publisher had a “real prospect of demonstrating that an honest person could have held the view” that a statement released by the Duke’s representatives was “a masterclass in the art of spinning”.
The judge ruled then that Harry must pay the £48,447 legal costs incurred by Associated in relation to that “summary judgment application” by December 29.
The ruling left the Duke forced to prove that the story had caused serious harm.
As the claim progressed, each side was obliged to disclose any documents considered “relevant”, even if potentially harmful to their case. The deadline for submitting those was Friday.
Meanwhile, the Duke is bringing separate legal proceedings against the Home Office after being told he was no longer automatically entitled to personal protective security when visiting from the US.
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