Prince Harry and other celebrities ordered to pay 9.5 million pounds to Associated Newspapers

A British High Court judge has ordered Prince Harry, Elton John, and five other high-profile individuals to pay an initial sum of approximately 9.54 million pounds to Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail. This financial penalty follows the July 7 dismissal of a privacy lawsuit in which the claimants alleged the newspaper used illegal information-gathering techniques to report on their private lives between 1993 and 2018.

The court rejected the claims after determining that the plaintiffs failed to prove allegations of illegal activities, such as phone hacking or voice message interception, to fuel approximately 50 articles. The legal team for the ANL had sought a much larger sum, representing a portion of the total 34.5 million pounds the company claims to have spent over the four-year duration of the litigation. The group of claimants included Prince Harry, Elton John, David Furnish, Sir Simon Hughes, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.

Following the court's ruling, the judge mandated the initial payment to be made within two weeks. The legal battle involved numerous testimonies from both sides, with Prince Harry traveling from the United States to London to testify in person, while current and former staff of the publisher categorically denied all allegations of wrongdoing.