Prince Harry withdraws his defamation lawsuit against the British tabloid 'Mail on Sunday'

Not a day goes by without a member (or several) of the British royal family starring in a headline.

If last Wednesday was due to the abdominal surgery that the Princess of Wales underwent, for which she will be out for two months, and the announcement of the prostate operation that Charles III is going to undergo next week, Thursday was for the visit of William of England to his wife in the private hospital in London where she remains admitted and for the words of Queen Camilla assuring that her husband “is fine.”

This Friday it is Henry of England's turn, in a new chapter of his confrontation with the British tabloids.

As it became known today, the Duke of Sussex has withdrawn before the High Court of London the defamation lawsuit that he had filed against the editor of the tabloid

, for an article related to the security measures requested by the king's youngest son. Carlos III when he visited his country.

Harry of England, 39, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes that Sunday, for the article published in February 2022 that stated that he had tried to keep secret his request to obtain police protection when he was in the United Kingdom. , a security that was withdrawn when he stopped being an active member of royalty in 2020 and moved with his family to the United States.

The duke's lawyers had claimed that the journalistic text "intended to reveal, in sensational terms", that there was a contradiction about "the public statements he had previously made about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family while he was in prison." United Kingdom".

The prince considered that the story falsely suggested that he had “lied” and had attempted to manipulate public opinion, and that it affected his integrity.

However, ANL rejected this claim and considered that the article expressed an “honest opinion” and did not cause “serious harm” to his reputation.

The long headline of the article was:

(How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a SECRET... and then, just minutes after the story broke, his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the story quarrel).

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However, the prince has withdrawn the lawsuit shortly before the deadline that Justice had ordered for the duke to present the legal documents related to the case, as confirmed this Friday by a spokesperson for the publishing company.

According to a spokesman for the Duke, the decision is motivated by him wanting to focus on the safety of his family and his case against the British Government for its decision not to provide him with security when he is in the United Kingdom.

That case is Enrique's focus, and not the defamation complaint that "would give a continuous platform to the

's false claims ," ​​a spokesman for the duke said in statements reported by the Reuters agency.

Last December, Henry of England lost his attempt to get the magistrate to rule in his favor without having to go to trial, something the judge rejected when he considered that the newspaper could prove that the statements issued in his name They were not true.

That meant Henry of England would have had to give evidence and documents to the High Court in London later this year to support his claim.

The

a tabloid from the same publishing group as the

, has reported that the prince has abandoned his case hours before his lawyers were forced to hand over the relevant documents.

In addition, he adds that he now faces paying the media 250,000 pounds (about 290,000 euros) in legal costs, in addition to the fees of his own team of lawyers, which could cost him about 750,000 pounds (about 850,000 euros). , according to the

.

For his part, a spokesman for the prince has stated that legal costs have not yet been determined.

The defamation case, now withdrawn, is separate from accusations by the prince — as well as other prominent figures, such as Elton John — against Associated Newspapers for illegally obtaining information, which is expected to go to trial.

In addition to this, Henry of England has three other cases open in court, two against two communication groups and his request to the Government to protect him and his family in British territory.

In another separate case, the prince last month won the lawsuit he had brought against the Mirror group, which publishes several British tabloids, for hacking his mobile phone to obtain exclusives about his private life.

The High Court of London ruled in favor of the Duke of Sussex in 15 of the 33 newspaper articles that it claimed had been prepared from information obtained through illegal means between 2003 and 2009. Magistrate Timothy Fancourt sentenced Mirror Group Newspapers to pay more of 160,000 euros in compensation to the Duke of Sussex, a third of the half million he claimed.

“The press has been hostile to me since I was born,” “How much more blood must those typing fingers stain before someone puts an end to this madness?” he cried in a witness statement submitted to the judge during that litigation.

He then became the first member of the British royal family in 130 years to testify as a witness in a trial.