Prince Harry‘s lawsuit against the Daily Mail has been going on for some time now. While he and several others obviously hope to win something from the case, some implications could backfire on the ex-royal, costing him millions. According to the Telegraph, one Judge David Cook states that it’s crucial Harry “have the clearest possible understanding as to the consequences of the way in which this litigation is being conducted.” Otherwise, he might have to pay upwards of millions of pounds, depending on the results of the case.
For explanation, the total cost of all the parties in the Mail lawsuit is around £38-39 million, which the judge argues is “clearly outside the range of the reasonable” and that “such sums were manifestly excessive and therefore disproportionate.” In the case of a loss, all the claimants have a collective insurance of £14.1m to cover legal fees, with each worth £2.35m. However, Judge Cook warns Prince Harry and friends that if only several win, others lose, or a few drop out, that £2.35m would not be enough to cover the bill that would need to be paid.
In other words, Prince Harry would be anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds in debt to pay off the bill if the lawsuit doesn’t go perfectly as hoped. Of course, this is all just speculation from Judge Cook and a warning to Prince Harry and the other claimants that they really should understand the legal costs of this case. “So Harry could be out of pocket for several million pounds… how many speeches to small business associations will cover that? No wonder he’s a rent-a-prince,” jokes a commenter.
The commenter’s quote above is doubtlessly referring to Prince Harry attending wildly varying events that don’t quite make much sense, such as his bizarre, no-camera speech in Canada for real estate. Meghan Markle has been on a roll for event attendance as well this year, such as Paris Fashion Week and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women. But it’s not all just about the money; for the Sussexes, it’s about image, too. One Reddit user points out how a “lawyer representing the Duke of Sussex and other claimants, David Sherborne, said ‘non-monetary relief’ was also important.”
In other words, Prince Harry would like the Daily Mail‘s publishers to give an apology. If this truly is the case, it wouldn’t be surprising, considering how much Harry wants to recover his ‘good image’ to get back on the Royal Family’s good side and be welcomed back into the fold somehow. Yet only time will tell whether he’ll get an apology, win some extra cash from the lawsuit, or lose several million in the case.
