LONDON (UK) – Britain’s Prince Harry has won an apology and substantial damages from the publishers of the Mail on Sunday, which came after suing the tabloid for libel with regard to claims he had turned his back on the military before bringing an end to his royal role.
Harry began the legal action after an article in the paper in October said he had no touch with the Marines, a commando force of the British navy. He has had a formal relationship with the same until he left from royal duties last March.
It added that Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, officially titled the Duke of Sussex, had rejected the armed forces and did not give importance to correspondence from a former British military chief.
His lawyer, Jenny Afia, told a remote hearing at London’s High Court on Monday, “All of these allegations are false as the Mail on Sunday and the Mail Online have accepted, albeit after considerable damage was already done.”
The paper had agreed to pay damages which Harry would donate to the Invictus Games, an international sporting event he founded for military personnel wounded in action, she said.
British media reported at the time that the fact that he had to relinquish his military connections was something that upset him, one he highly valued.
“The baseless, false and defamatory stories … constituted not only a personal attack on the duke’s character but also wrongly brought into question his service to this country,” Afia said.