Not a day goes by without a member (or members) of the British royal family appearing in a headline. Last Wednesday was due to the Princess of Wales's abdominal operation, for which she will be out for two months, and the announcement of the prostate operation that Charles III is undergoing. next week, Thursday was for the visit of William of England to his wife in the private hospital in London, where she remains hospitalized, and for the words of Queen Camilla, who assured that her husband is “fine goes”. This Friday it is the turn of Henry of England, in a new chapter of his confrontation with the British tabloids. It was announced today that the Duke of Sussex has withdrawn from the High Court of London the libel action he brought against the publisher of the Mail on Sunday tabloid over an article relating to security measures demanded by the King's youngest son. Carlos III when he visited his country.
Harry, from England, 39, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes this Sunday, over the article published in February 2022, which said he tried to keep his application for police protection secret when he was in the United States kingdom stopped. a security that was withdrawn when he stopped being an active member of the royal family in 2020 and moved to the United States with his family. The Duke's lawyers had claimed that the journalistic text was “intended to reveal in sensational terms” that there was a contradiction with “the public statements he had previously made about his willingness to provide police protection for himself and his family while in custody to pay”. Prison.” United Kingdom”. The prince believed that the story falsely suggested that he had “lied” and tried to manipulate public opinion, and he also believed that this compromised his integrity. However, ANL rejected this claim, maintaining that the article expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause “serious damage” to its reputation. The article's long headline read: How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal battle with the government over police bodyguards secret…then – just minutes after the story broke – his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute (How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal battle with the government over police bodyguards secret… and then, just minutes after the story broke, his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute over the story .
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However, the prince withdrew the lawsuit shortly before the deadline set by the judiciary for the duke to submit the legal documents related to the case, as confirmed this Friday by a spokesman for the publisher. According to a spokesman for the Duke, the decision is because he wants to focus on the safety of his family and on his legal action against the British government over its decision not to provide him with security during his stay in the UK. Enrique's focus is on this case and not on the defamation complaint, which would “provide an ongoing platform for the Mail's false claims,” a spokesman for the duke said in statements carried by Portal.
Last December, Henry of England failed in his attempt to get the judge to rule in his favor without having to go to court, which the judge refused because he believed the newspaper could prove that the in statements made on his behalf were not true. This meant that Henry of England would have had to provide evidence and documents to the High Court in London later that year to support his claim. The Chron, a tabloid published by the same publishing group as the Mail on Sunday, has reported that the prince had dropped his case hours before his lawyers were forced to hand over the relevant documents. He also adds that he will now have to pay legal fees of £250,000 to the media in addition to his own legal team's fees, which could cost him around £750,000 (around €850,000), he told the Chron. A spokesman for the prince said that the legal costs had not yet been clarified.
The now-withdrawn libel case is separate from the prince's – as well as other prominent figures such as Elton John's – allegations against Associated Newspapers of illegal information gathering, which are expected to go to trial. In addition, Henry of England has three other cases pending in court, two against two communications groups and his request to the government to protect him and his family on British territory.
In another case, the prince last month won the lawsuit he filed against the Mirror Group, which publishes several British tabloids, for hacking his cellphone to obtain exclusive information about his private life. The Supreme Court of London ruled in the Duke of Sussex's favor on 15 of the 33 newspaper articles that he claimed were created based on information illegally obtained between 2003 and 2009. Judge Timothy Fancourt ordered Mirror Group Newspapers to pay more than 160,000 euros in compensation to the Duke of Sussex, a third of the half million he was demanding. “The press has been hostile to me since I was born.” “How much more blood must these typing fingers stain before someone puts an end to this madness?” he shouted in a testimony presented to the judge during that legal battle. He then became the first member of the British royal family to testify in a trial in 130 years.