Harry and others to pay Mail £9.5m in first costs bill after failed legal case

The Duke of Sussex and six other household names will have to pay more than £9.5 million to the Daily Mail’s publisher in the first round of legal costs after losing their High Court claims, which were described by the judge as “speculative and substantially inferential”.

The high-profile figures, also including Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information-gathering.

ANL strongly denied the claims, which were heard at an 11-week trial in London earlier this year, with judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissing all the cases in a judgment on July 7.

The cases returned to the High Court for a two-day hearing over costs, where the court was told ANL’s total costs were more than £34 million.

In a judgment on Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin ruled the group of seven must pay £9,544,355 by August 28 as an initial contribution to the publisher’s costs ahead of further hearings to determine the total sum.

He said: “The claimants and their advisers have been on notice, since the hearing, that this would be the date for payment on account.”

Mr Justice Nicklin also ruled that ANL’s costs should be determined on an indemnity basis, which is more favourable to the publisher in terms of the amount it can recover, aside from where orders had already been made.

He said in the 44-page ruling that he was granting costs on this stricter basis for several reasons, including “the speculative and substantially inferential character of the claims at their origin”, the “exceptional breadth” of the cases “and the public presentation of allegations of serious criminality and impropriety which were not ultimately established”.

He continued that the group are criticised for “the making and maintenance of very serious allegations against many individuals, the failure to reassess those allegations when the evidence required reassessment, and the continued pursuit of allegations which were unsupported or had ceased to be realistically maintainable”.

“In my judgment, that conduct was unreasonable to a high degree,” Mr Justice Nicklin added.

An ANL spokesperson said the ruling was “another overwhelming victory for the Mail and its journalism”.

They said: “His judgment is a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives.”

The spokesperson added: “The truth is that these outrageous claims should never have been brought. That they were pursued raises disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession.”

The judgment comes after it was made public on Wednesday that Harry and his wife the Duchess of Sussex are moving back to the UK.

The couple decamped to California more than six years ago amid the Megxit crisis, but will relocate back to the UK later this month to live in a non-royal residence outside London.

ANL, which also publishes the Mail On Sunday, had asked for more than £9.9 million as an interim payment, while lawyers for the claimants, which also includes David Furnish, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley and Sir Simon Hughes, said the interim payment should be just over £7.9 million.

Nicholas Bacon KC, for the group, said in written submissions that it could be “very significant” if the group of seven had to pay ANL’s costs on the stricter indemnity basis and could lead to them being without enough insurance cover.

Published: 21/08/2026 by Radio NewsHub