Prince Harry, Elton John and others slapped with millions in legal fees after court loss to Daily Mail

Prince Harry and other high-profile claimants must ‌make an interim payment of £9.54 million ($17.89 million Cdn) toward the legal costs ​of the Daily ​Mail's publisher after losing their privacy lawsuits, London's ​High Court ruled on Friday.

Judgment is only for an initial payment, with potential for bigger sum

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Aug 21, 2026 9:44 AM EDT | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago

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Prince Harry and other high-profile claimants must ‌make an interim payment of £9.54 million ($17.9 million Cdn) toward the legal costs ​of the Daily ​Mail's publisher after losing their privacy lawsuits, London's ​High Court ruled on ⁠Friday.

Last ⁠month, ‌judge Matthew Nicklin comprehensively rejected the case brought by King Charles's younger ⁠son and several others, rejecting ‌allegations that the Mail titles had engaged in widespread unlawful activities, such ​as phone hacking.

The outstanding amount should be paid on an "indemnity basis," Friday's ruling said.

This means that as the losing party, the prince and ​the others must pay toward Associated's legal costs without ⁠the publisher needing to show these were reasonable ⁠and proportionate. Associated's costs were £34 million ($63.7 million Cdn), and the losing claimants are believed to be insured for around half that total.

Singer Elton John and his Canadian husband, David Furnish, as well as actors Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley were among the other high-profile names suing Associated Newspapers. Other claimants included former Liberal Democratic MP Simon Hughes and Doreen Lawrence, who became an anti-racism activist after the killing of her son, Stephen, in 1993.

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Associated had said after the ⁠judge's ⁠initial ​ruling earlier this summer that it was an overwhelming victory for ​its newspaper ⁠and journalists, and "for a free press generally." The prince, on the other hand, described the ruling as a "complete and obvious whitewash."

Harry and his wife, Meghan, announced this week their imminent return to Britain, where they will send their son and daughter to school. After briefly decamping in British Columbia, in a decision to leave the U.K. that stunned the British press, they have spent the past six years in southern California.

Previous case brought apology

The case is the final outstanding litigation in a series of lawsuits Harry had filed accusing tabloid publishers of using unlawful tactics.

Harry was previously awarded £140,600 (about $240,430 Cdn) after the High Court ruled he had been a victim of "modest" phone-hacking and other unlawful information gathering by journalists at Britain's Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.

In 2023, Harry became the first British royal to give evidence at a trial in 130 years, when he testified as part of the case.

In the other major case, the Rupert Murdoch-led News Group in the U.K. offered a "full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex" for "the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them."

But the court rejected an allegation made in a court filing that Murdoch's newspaper group had a secret deal with Buckingham Palace to block royals from filing such lawsuits.