LONDON (AP) – Prince Harry on Monday accepted an apology and damages from the publisher of the British tabloid The Mail on Sunday and its online version, MailOnline, in a libel lawsuit regarding articles about his relationship with the British armed forces.
Harry sued Associated Newspapers for libel over two articles published in October claiming to have turned down the Royal Marines after stepping down from senior royal.
The articles claimed that Harry had “had no contact” with the Corps since his last appearance as an honorary Marine in March, and that military leaders were considering replacing him as Captain General of the Royal Marines.
Harry had served in the British Army for ten years. His lawyers said in court documents that he was “frustrated and distressed” because the articles would diminish his credibility with veterans.
Harry and his wife, Meghan, stepped down as working royals and moved to the US in early 2019. His military honorific titles were suspended and would be revised in March as part of the monarchy’s review of the couple’s departure arrangements. .
Lawyer Jenny Afia, who represented Harry, said the publisher has accepted that the allegations that he turned his back on the police were false.
The articles were “baseless, false and defamatory” and “not only constituted a personal assault on the Duke’s character, but also falsely called into question his service to this country,” Afia said.
She said that Harry was “proud to have served in the British Armed Forces for 10 years in Her Majesty’s name” and “has maintained active links with those Armed Forces ever since and will continue to do so in the future.”
After the brief remote hearing, a spokesperson for Harry said his “commitment to the military community is unquestionable”.
The Mail on Sunday issued an apology in December, but it was not enough to stop the lawsuit.
Harry will donate the damage to the Invictus Games Foundation, a charity for injured or sick soldiers and women he has founded, she added. The amount of the damage was not disclosed.
Separately, Meghan is also suing Associated Newspapers for privacy and copyright infringement over articles that published parts of a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle, after marrying Harry in 2018.