Prince Harry's Massive Legal Win Has Twitter Talking

Prince Harry's legal case against the UK's Home Office continues apace. The Evening Standard reports that Harry is arguing that he was misled about who exactly was deciding his fate when it came to obtaining a security detail while visiting Britain. 

The Duke of Sussex is demanding a full judicial review of the final decision made by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) after discovering that members of the royal household were involved in making it.

Harry's lawyer contends that the prince was assured it was an "independent decision." Moreover, Harry was prevented from appealing to RAVEC directly, meaning the committee wasn't briefed when he offered to pay for protection himself. 

Thus, Harry doesn't feel he was given a fair go, especially since his strained relationship with the rest of the royals arguably had a negative impact on the decision. The defense countered that that's "irrelevant," and personal appeals from Harry wouldn't have affected the outcome.

As BBC News noted at the time, the duke launched legal proceedings after being refused protection when returning from the US, where he and wife Meghan Markle relocated after stepping down as working royals. A statement argued, "The UK will always be Prince Harry's home and a country he wants his wife and children to be safe in. With the lack of police protection, comes too great a personal risk." 

The case is ongoing, but, in the meantime, Harry has received good news elsewhere.

Prince Harry's legal battle over protection shows no signs of slowing down, but at least he can celebrate the results of another high-profile lawsuit. 

Yahoo! UK confirms that the Duke of Sussex has emerged victorious in his High Court defamation case against the Mail on Sunday. A judge ruled in Harry's favor, confirming that the article in question, published under an attention-grabbing headline, contained several misleading claims.

Justice Nicklin determined that the "natural and ordinary" reading of the article would lead someone to believe that 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."

However, Nicklin clarified: "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." 

Likewise, it appeared as though the duke were personally responsible for misleading the public. The Mail's article also claimed that Harry was trying to keep the security battle under wraps, at least judging by the headline, which was certainly not the case. 

As NBC News notes, this is a huge win for the duke since it means he can go to trial while the Mail prepares to mount its defense accordingly. 

As the Independent points out, this isn't the first time Prince Harry has sued Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Mail on Sunday, over libel. In 2021, he won a case surrounding the treatment of his relationship with the army after articles were published claiming that Harry had no contact with the army after leaving the royal family.

The Duke of Sussex contended that such allegations could damage his credibility following 10 years of service. The articles were blasted as "baseless, false and defamatory" and "constituted not only a personal attack upon the Duke's character but also wrongly brought into question his service to this country." A spokesman confirmed: "Harry's commitment to the military community is unquestionable." 

An apology was printed, and Harry pledged to donate the awarded damages to his beloved Invictus Games Foundation. 

Twitter can't get enough of Harry winning against the notorious tabloid again, with one user writing, "The Mail got beaten by Prince Harry again hahahahahaha" while another celebrated, "Prince Harry WON...again!!!" and a third argued, "The British tabloids are an embarrassment especially the Mail group."

As several users pointed out, Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, also received a public apology from the Mail on Sunday after she won her own defamation lawsuit against the outlet following the publication of a private letter to her estranged father, Thomas Markle. Per People, a judge ruled that Meghan's privacy had been breached and her copyright infringed upon.