Prince Harry wants to set the record straight.
A spokesperson for the royal confirms to BAZAAR.com that the Duke of Sussex has launched libel action against the publisher of the Daily Mail over an allegedly damaging and false story.
Documents filed at the High Court in London by his lawyers at Schillings on Wednesday (February 23) revealed that Harry is challenging The Mail on Sunday over a “defamatory” report about his fight for police protection in the U.K.
The February 20 story, which was also published on MailOnline, claimed that the duke had gone to great lengths to hide litigation against the British Home Office after they refused to let him pay for his family’s own police protection while visiting the country. The tabloid also suggested that Harry lied about offering to self-fund his protection during a visit to London last June to unveil a statue of the late Princess Diana.
In January, The Mail on Sunday exclusively broke the news of Harry’s fight to protect his family while visiting the United Kingdom. Their front-page headline of “Harry sues Britain over loss of his bodyguards,” however, seemingly misrepresented the story.
Since February 2020, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan have been paying for private security for themselves and their children, Archie and Lilibet. The move came as a result of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) withdrawing the official police protection that the Sussexes received before they stepped back from their senior royal roles.
Although Harry takes no issue with funding his own security, the sixth-in-line has argued that without the opportunity to pay for official British police protection, he and his family remain vulnerable as private protection officers are unable to gain access to national security intelligence or have the right to carry a gun in Britain.
At the start of Harry’s legal action against the Home Office on February 18, a judge heard from Harry’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima QC, that the duke was eager to return home and see family and friends, also to introduce daughter Lilibet to the queen, but did not feel safe without appropriate security measures.
In a statement released to BAZAAR.com in January, the father of two said he first offered to “pay personally for UK police protection” for himself and his family in January 2020 at Sandringham, but the offer was denied. However, in court this month, a representative for the government called his offer “irrelevant,” adding that “personal protective security is not available on a privately financed basis.”
This won’t be Harry’s first fight against The Mail on Sunday. In January 2021, he settled a defamation suit against the newspaper over inaccurate stories about his relationship with the armed forces. And earlier this year, Meghan won substantial damages from the same paper for infringing her copyright and invading her privacy after printing a handwritten letter to her father.
Harry currently has privacy claims against News Group Newspapers, which publishes The Sun, and Mirror Group Newspapers (now called Reach), which publishes The Mirror, over alleged phone hacking and unlawful information gathering.
Omid Scobie is BAZAAR.com’s Royal Editor at Large and has covered the lives and philanthropic work of the younger members of the British Royal Family for over eight years. As well as spearheading exclusive coverage of major royal milestones (including the weddings of both the Cambridges and Sussexes), Scobie has traveled extensively with Harry, Meghan, William and Kate on their engagements in the U.K. and around the world. As ABC News’s Royal Contributor, Scobie is a regular on Good Morning America and host of the network’s forthcoming podcast, The Heir Pod.
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