LONDON: Prince Harry, Elton John and five others may have to pay “millions” out of their own pockets after losing a case against the publisher of the British tabloid the Daily Mail, the High Court in London heard on Wednesday.
The seven high profile claimants this month lost their case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over allegations of unlawful information gathering and invasions of privacy. During an emotional 11-week trial, they accused Mail journalists of bugging their cars and homes, listening into calls and accessing bank accounts and medical records, all of which ANL denied.
In a written judgement published earlier in July, while Harry was in the UK on a fraught trip, the judge said the “claimants failed to prove their pleaded allegations” and dismissed the lawsuit.
Harry, John, his husband David Furnish, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, campaigner Doreen Lawrence and ex-politician Simon Hughes now face an eye-watering legal bill. In a hearing Wednesday to decide costs, ANL’s lawyers argued the claimants should cover a larger proportion of the publishers’ 34 million ($45 million) costs.
The amount they will need to shell out will depend on whether the judge orders them to pay on a standard basis, or on a stricter indemnity basiss.
ANL lawyer Antony White argued the celebrities should pay on an indemnity basis.
Nicholas Bacon, representing the claimants, said it would be “very significant” if they had to pay on the stricter basis, as they would face an insurance shortfall. Bacon said the claimants had a combined insurance cover of 16.2 million, which could leave them out of pocket for “many millions”.
“If the claimants were required to pay Associated’s costs on the indemnity basis, the current level of cover would be insufficient to meet their total costs exposure, possibly to the tune of many millions of pounds,” said Bacon.
Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2026
