Prince Harry and Six Others Face Privacy Case Legal Bill of Up to £34.5m
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Prince Harry and six other public figures face paying up to £34.5m to the publisher of the Daily Mail after a High Court judge imposed an exceptional order for legal costs over their failed privacy case.
Image source: Reuters/Getty
By Ella Kipling, Henry Moore, and Dominic Casciani,
Home and Legal Correspondent
Published 21 August 2026, 14:10 BST
Updated 26 minutes ago
The seven claimants, including Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, and Liz Hurley, must pay an initial £9.54m by 28 August to Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
The judge ruled that the case was exceptional and that the claimants should bear far more than the pre-trial costs agreed upon, criticising their presentation of claims as "unreasonable to a high degree".
On 7 July, Judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed the claims of unlawful information-gathering, which ANL denied.
Prince Harry and the other six claimants have until 2 October to attempt to launch an appeal.
Those other claimants are Sir Elton John and David Furnish, Sir Simon Hughes, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.
They had insurance covering up to £16.2m of ANL’s costs in the event of losing the case – but Friday’s ruling means the newspaper group could now try to recover up to the full £34.5m it claimed to have spent defending itself. This could result in a bill of around £18m for the Duke and others.
Justice Nicklin described the potential £34.5m payment as "excessive", suggesting ANL’s actual costs will be lower. He said:
I regard a claim for costs in excess of £34 million as, on its face, excessive and as giving rise to real concerns as to whether all of the costs now claimed by Associated were reasonably incurred and are reasonable in amount.
But he added that he had decided not to impose a ceiling on ANL’s recoverable costs to avoid unfairness and potential arbitrariness.
The judge also ruled that ANL’s costs should be determined on an indemnity basis, which is more favourable for the publisher in terms of recoverable amounts. He noted that "not a single allegation of serious wrongdoing was voluntarily withdrawn" by the claimants.
He continued:
That matters. Serious allegations of criminality or grave impropriety cannot properly be left hanging over individuals in that way. If a party no longer advances such an allegation, or no longer has a proper evidential basis for advancing it, the allegation should be withdrawn clearly and in terms… The claimants’ failure to do so was not ordinary forensic judgment. It was not a proper or disciplined way to deal with serious allegations. It was unreasonable to a high degree.
In a statement, ANL called the ruling "a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors, and executives".
Friday’s decision comes days after Prince Harry and Duchess announced their plan to return to the UK with children Archie and Lilibet.
