Prince Harry has decided to withdraw his libel claim against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), the publisher of the mail on Sunday, resulting in a legal bill of £750,000.

The Duke of Sussex had initially brought the case against the newspaper over an article that discussed his UK security arrangements.

According to a spokesperson for ANL, Prince Harry abandoned his case just hours before the deadline for his lawyers to provide a list of relevant documents that could have been used in the trial.

The claims made in the article suggested that he had attempted to deceive the public.

Instead, his lawyers informed the High Court at 10am that he was discontinuing his case.

As a consequence, Prince Harry will now be required to pay the newspaper’s costs of £250,000, as well as his own lawyers’ fees, bringing the total bill to over £750,000.

The 39-year-old had sued ANL over a February 2022 article that focused on his legal challenge against the Home Office following changes to his publicly funded security arrangements while visiting the UK.

Harry’s legal team argued that the article falsely implied that information from court documents contradicted his previous public statements regarding his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family while in the UK.

They contended that the article was fundamentally inaccurate and amounted to libel against the Duke.

In response, Associated Newspapers maintained that the article expressed an honest opinion and did not cause serious harm to Prince Harry’s reputation.

Despite the Royal’s efforts to have this defense dismissed, a High Court judge ruled in December that it could be included in the trial.

In a recent ruling, Prince Harry lost his bid to have ANL’s honest opinion removed from the case and was ordered to pay £48,447 towards the publisher’s lawyers’ bills.

The Mail on Sunday and Mail Online had published an article in February 2022 titled “How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a secret, then, just minutes after the story broke, his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute.”

According to the article, Prince Harry allegedly attempted to conceal his efforts to retain publicly funded protection in the UK after stepping down from his role as a working member of the Royal Family in 2020.

The government, on the other hand, defended its decision to withdraw full protection for Harry, citing his resignation from his senior working position within the monarchy.

It claimed that he was treated fairly and provided with security on an occasional basis when he visits.

In conclusion, Prince Harry’s decision to withdraw his libel case against the mail on Sunday has resulted in a substantial legal bill.