Prince Harry news: Prince Harry left the Army in 2015 (Image: GETTY)
Prince Harry sued Associated Newspaper in November last year after the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline published on October 25 two articles accusing the Duke of snubbing the Royal Marines since March 2020, when he stepped down as senior royal.
The two publications issued apologies online and on paper in late December, in which they said the Duke has in fact reached out to a number of military personnel in private capacity over the past months.
Associated Newspapers also paid damages to the Duke.
During the remote High Court hearing on Monday morning, Prince Harry s legal representative read a 1,100-word personal statement by the Duke of Sussex.
Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2014, and the first instalment of the annual competition took place the same year. It s since been a major highlight on his calendar, and has held some special memories for him over the years, too. When the games were held in Toronto in 2017, he and
Duchess Meghan made their public debut at one of the events. Their 2018 tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand was also held in connection with the Invictus Games that year, which were held Down Under. Harry is the patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, which runs the event every year.
Prince Harry has settled a legal dispute with the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline, accepting what his legal team called significant damages over an article alleging he had turned his back on the Royal Marines.
Jenny Afia, a lawyer for the The Duke of Sussex, said in a statement to open court on Monday that the baseless, false and defamatory stories published constituted not only a personal attack on the Duke s character, but also wrongly brought into question his service to this country.
The Duke has requested any damages received go to the Invictus Games Foundation, so he could feel something good had come out of the situation, his lawyer said. The settlement amount was not made public.
First published on Mon 1 Feb 2021 06.02 EST
The Duke of Sussex has accused the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online of underplaying the seriousness of an error in a story about his relationship to the British armed forces as the two sides formally settled a high court libel claim.
Harry had sued Associated Newspapers over two articles published in October, which claimed he had snubbed the Royal Marines and “not been in touch … since his last appearance as an honorary marine in March”, citing “informed sources”.
On 27 December, the Mail on Sunday printed an apology, accepting the duke had been in touch with the Royal Marines, and said it had made a donation to the foundation managing the duke’s Invictus Games.
By DoD News Features - 160508-D-DB155-003, CC BY 2.0, Wiki Commons
The Duke of Sussex has accepted an apology and damages from the publishers of the Mail on Sunday newspaper and the Mail Online over an article claiming he had ‘’turned his back’’ on the Armed Forces.
The pieces, published in October 2020, claimed that Prince Harry had snubbed the Royal Marines after stepping down as a senior royal in March 2020 and hadn’t been in touch with them since his departure. The Duke of Sussex sued Associated Newspapers for libel over the two articles.
Lawyers for the Duke of Sussex described the claims as a personal attack and said the allegation was ‘’baseless, false and defamatory’’. They added that he had made ‘’repeated and concerted efforts’’ to show his support for the Marines since stepping back.