Britain's Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has accepted an apology and “substantial” damages from Associated Newspapers over the publication of what he described as “baseless, false and defamatory stories” about him in the ‘Mail on Sunday' and 'MailOnline', the High Court in London heard on Monday.
The 36-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, who stepped back from frontline royal duties last year, had sued the newspaper group for libel over two “almost identical” articles published in October 2020, which claimed he had snubbed the Royal Marines after his royal exit.
“The baseless, false and defamatory stories published in the ‘Mail on Sunday' and on the website ‘MailOnline' constituted not only a personal attack upon the Duke's character but also wrongly brought into question his service to this country,” Jenny Afia, Harry's lawyer, told the court in a remote hearing.
She said that Associated Newspapers had accepted the allegations were false, “albeit after considerable damage was already done”.