Harry Drops Libel Suit and Heads to the Beverly Hilton for Legends of Aviation Award
Good morning, and welcome to the Late-Week Round-Up of Royal News. Harry had a very busy day yesterday and that is what we are talking about this morning. I hope you brewed your coffee strong!
As almost every royal-related headline has announced, on Friday, Prince Harry dropped his libel claim against the Associated Newspapers Limited (Mail on Sunday), just hours before the deadline for his attorneys to hand over evidence to the court to support his claim. You are probably scratching your head trying to remember which of his many cases this one is. To briefly refresh your memory, in February 2022, the Mail on Sunday ran a story that alleged Harry only offered to pay for his own security after he brought his suit against the British government demanding it. The paper furthered alleged that Harry had tried to mislead the public about the timing of the offer. Harry claimed he offered to pay for police protection at the Sandringham Summit in 2020, and renewed the offer in February of 2020 during a meeting with the then-cabinet secretary and UK home security adviser. Harry sued asserting libel.
The suit has not been going well for Harry, and it was navigating pretty rocky shoals by March. In March, Harry moved for summary judgment, asking the judge to resolve the suit in his favor without going to trial. Not only was the request denied, which could have been done relatively impartially, the judge added that the paper might very well be able to show at trial that Harry’s claim “was a masterclass in the art of ‘spinning.’” To me, that was a real tip of the hand that the judge was not impressed by the legal merits of Harry’s claim. As a litigant or lawyer, I would be very worried. It seems Harry’s lawyers felt the same.
According to the Telegraph, Harry, through counsel, informed the court at 10am on Friday that he was discontinuing his case. His spokesman told reporters that Harry’s priority is “the safety of his family” not a court case that provides a “continued platform to the Mail’s false claims all those years ago.” That’s a real about-face from his statements just in the last few months that he is saving democracy and “slaying dragons” through this litigation against the press, but ok.