Prince Harry's 'Saving His Energy' For New Media Battles

Prince Harry's decision to scrap a libel lawsuit against a tabloid rival "may be a battle conceded" but his "tussles with the tabloids" are far from over, a lawyer told Newsweek.

The Duke of Sussex pulled the plug on his defamation case against The Mail on Sunday over a story accusing him of spin in a public statement about the removal of his police protection team.

And the newspaper's sister title the Daily Mail reported it expects his costs to surpass £750,000 ($950,000) as it announced he had "admitted defeat."

However, Amber Melville-Brown, global head of media and reputation at international law firm Withers, said she does not believe this will be the end of Harry's media lawsuits.

She told Newsweek: "Harry has decided to grin and bear the backlash that discontinuance may generate, turn the other cheek, and walk away.

"But in doing so, he is not, in my view, turning his back on tussles with the tabloids. He is more likely saving his energy and his ammunition for another day.

"Harry has been on a quest to rein in what he sees as the worst excesses of the media—responsible in his eyes for the death of his mother, the bullying of his wife, and a constant baying at him—and it is unlikely he will change his tune now. This may be a battle conceded, but it is not a war lost."

Harry and Meghan Markle launched ten lawsuits between them between 2019 and 2022, their most recent in October 2022.

Meghan beat the Mail on Sunday in a lawsuit over a private letter she sent her father, while the newspaper settled out of court and paid an undisclosed sum in a previous libel lawsuit brought by Harry in 2020.

However, his legal fortunes have been slightly more hit-and-miss recently after he lost one of two judicial reviews he filed against the U.K. Home Office.

He also had his phone hacking allegations against Murdoch-owned tabloid The Sun thrown out, while other aspects of the lawsuit will continue to trial.

It has not all been bad news though, after he won a phone hacking lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers and was awarded £140,000 in damages.

Needless to say, if the Mail's projection of costs—which pre-dates a decision on the issue by the judge in the case—is substantially higher than that payout.

"This sum is likely more than just a 'finger in the air' assumption by the Mail," Melville-Brown said.

"Here, the parties will in all probability have exchanged costs budgets showing each other, and the court, what they anticipated spending on the case through to the ultimate trial.

"Costs of this magnitude are not to be sneezed at, but discontinuance may be the right pill worth swallowing to avoid the further costs of trial if a claimant has doubts as to his prospects of success—absent other reasons to continue the fight he may choose not to throw good money after bad.

"But where a claimant is of independent means, as is the case here, the costs and consequences may be insignificant compared with the brand damage that could occur during a hotly contested public trial, or as a result of the reputational fall-out that could be caused by an ultimate loss."

After Harry threw in the towel, a spokesperson pointed out costs in the case were yet to be determined, adding that it was "premature to speculate."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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