Prince Harry has secured a victory in his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited.
Parts of an article in The Mail on Sunday over the Duke's legal claim against the Home Office were indeed "defamatory", a High Court judge has ruled.
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In February, the paper ran a story under the headline, "Exclusive: 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."
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In Friday's ruling, Mr Justice Nicklin found that parts of the article in the claim were defamatory. He said the article did not suggest that Harry "was seeking to keep his 'legal battle' with the Government secret," though it was suggested by the headline if read alone.
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Discussing one of the meanings of the article, Mr Justice Nicklin said a reader would think Harry "was responsible for public statements, issued on his behalf, which claimed that he was willing to pay for police protection in the UK, and that his legal challenge was to the Government's refusal to permit him to do so, whereas the true position, as revealed in documents filed in the legal proceedings, was that he had only made the offer to pay after the proceedings had commenced".
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The senior judge also said the article would have been read as alleging Harry "was responsible for trying to mislead and confuse the public as to the true position, which was ironic given that he now held a public role in tackling 'misinformation'".
Mr Justice Nicklin added: "It may be possible to 'spin' facts in a way that does not mislead, but the allegation being made in the article was very much that the object was to mislead the public. That supplies the necessary element to make the meanings defamatory at common law."
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Friday's judgment only relates to the "objective meaning" of the article, Mr Justice Nicklin said, adding it is the first stage in the libel claim. This means the case can now go forward to a full trial.
In a written statement to last month's preliminary hearing, Harry said it had caused him "substantial hurt, embarrassment and distress, which is continuing".
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