Prince Harry just received a brutal wake-up call – this will sting | Royal | News

The reality of Prince Harry’s legal crusade against the publisher of one of the UK’s biggest newspapers has just hit him… hard.

After the High Court threw out the Duke of Sussex’s “speculative” privacy suit, citing a lack of evidence, Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers is acting quickly to recover its huge losses. After a two-day hearing this week, the publisher confirmed it is demanding an upfront £10 million payment and asking the court to order Harry and his fellow high-profile claimants – including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley – to cover the entire £34million legal bill for both sides.

The paper’s lawyers argued the claimants wasted substantial time and money pursuing shifting allegations without solid proof. In response, Harry’s legal team called the eye-watering £34million sum “astonishingly high” and claimed the publisher is using its massive financial weight to punish the group for speaking out.

With Harry having labelled the huge loss a “whitewash”, the Duke now faces the very real prospect of a massive financial hit at the hands of the very publisher he set out to expose.

He’s stamped his feet, thrown his toys out of the pram and accused his father’s court of a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch up”, but could everything be about to change for Prince Harry?

His recent UK return may have been nothing short of a disaster, with his arrival being overshadowed by where he would stay, as well as his latest legal battle being thrown out by the High Court. But, to everyone’s surprise, there’s a feeling of optimism radiating around the Duke at the moment.

Not only do we hear that when he travels back to the UK in September, he could stay at Buckingham Palace, but the most recent YouGov survey also shows his popularity has risen for the first time in six years. He now sits comfortably in eighth place with 33% of Brits viewing him positively.

With a quiet period for Harry never assured, perhaps he is finally realising that quietly focusing on his work rather than airing his grievances works far better in his favour. Will it continue? Who knows.

The same shock new poll has seen Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie plunge below Prince Harry’s popularity for the first time ever. Tainted by association, the two York sisters now hold a 30% and 29% positive rating, respectively and sit above Meghan Markle, who is herself languishing in the second-to-last spot at 22%, just above the disgraced former Duke of York with his record-low 2% popularity rating.

Given that they’ve been forced to watch the mess their parents have caused over the last year, undoubtedly with splayed fingers over their eyes, the outcome may have seemed inevitable, but you can’t argue that it does feel ever-so-slightly cruel.

The King would be forgiven for feeling slightly unsteady after Buckingham Palace announced that he will soon be without his right-hand man. His Majesty’s private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, will be retiring next year to coincide with his 60th birthday after 11 years in the job and 20 years of royal service.

Mr Alderton said: “It has been the greatest imaginable honour to serve The King and Queen in my present role through such historic times and with unforgettable humour along the way. That support will continue, in a less formal capacity, for all of my life.” Having previously described Sir Clive as “the wasp” in his memoir Spare, we’re not sure Prince Harry will be mourning his departure with quite the same reverence.

But will this shift at the Palace grease the wheels in Harry’s favour? We can only wait and watch with bated breath.