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The Duke of Sussex and six other household names will have to stump up an initial £9.5million to the Daily Mail’s publisher for its legal fees over their failed unlawful information gathering claims.
A High Court judge issued the ruling on Friday after a slew of famous faces, including Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, unsuccessfully sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
ANL strongly denied the claims which were heard at an 11-week trial in London earlier this year, with judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissing all the cases in a judgment on July 7.
The cases returned to the High Court for a two-day hearing over costs, where the court was told ANL’s total costs were £34.5million.
On Friday, Mr Justice Nicklin gave his decision on the size of an initial payment the group will make to ANL, as well as how the full costs will be assessed.
The seven claimants, also including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, must pay an initial £9.54m by Friday of next week .
The court has ruled the Mail publisher can seek further costs meaning the famous names could eventually end up having to pay up to the £34.5million costs of the case for the Mail publisher.
They had insurance to cover up to £16.2m of ANL's costs in the event of losing the case – means the duke and others could face a bill of some £18m that will have to be paid from their personal wealth.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Nicklin said the claims brought against Associated Newspapers were “speculative and substantially inferential” and “lacked a proper evidential foundation”.
Associated Newspapers called the costs judgment ‘a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives’.
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The ruling comes after it was made public on Wednesday that Harry and his wife the Duchess of Sussex are moving back to the UK.