Prince Harry spent years hunting British tabloids for crimes a judge just ruled he never proved.
Now the humiliated Duke faces a 67 million dollar legal bill he cannot afford.
And Megyn Kelly was waiting with something to say the moment he called the verdict a whitewash.
Prince Harry Loses Daily Mail Phone Hacking Lawsuit on All 97 Counts
Back in 2022, Prince Harry filed suit against Associated Newspapers – the British publisher behind the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday – claiming their journalists spent years obtaining private information through criminal means.
He was joined by six co-claimants: Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, former lawmaker Simon Hughes, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.
The group accused the publisher of intercepting voicemails, bugging phones and homes, bribing police officers, and using deception to obtain confidential records stretching back to 1993.
It was Harry's third and final legal battle against the British press – and the one he built his entire public identity around.
The eleven-week trial ran from January through March of this year.
Justice Matthew Nicklin delivered his 436-page answer earlier this month: he threw out all 97 allegations, concluding Harry never proved a single article contained unlawfully obtained information.
The ruling rejected what the court called Harry's reliance on "broad inference" – meaning he built his entire case on suspicion, and suspicion alone was not enough.
Associated Newspapers had its own verdict ready: the ruling was "a magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail's journalism" and Harry's campaign had wasted more than £50 million in court time.
Harry called the outcome "a complete and obvious whitewash."
Prince Harry Faces 67 Million Dollar Legal Bill He Cannot Afford
The price tag on Harry's crusade: £50 million – roughly 67 million dollars – in legal costs that now hang over Harry and his co-claimants, including Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley, and Sadie Frost.
A costs hearing is scheduled for later this month to determine exactly who pays what.
British courts run on loser-pays rules, meaning Harry's side faces Associated Newspapers' entire tab.
Harry cannot cover it.
The Sussexes spend roughly three million dollars annually on private security and carry two mortgages on their 14.5 million dollar Montecito estate.
Elton John – himself a co-claimant and one of Harry's closest allies – could end up covering part of the tab.
The publisher holds the discretion to go after whichever claimant can most easily pay and does not have to divide the bill evenly.
An insider close to the situation told reporters that Meghan Markle did not want Harry to pursue the case, and that she is "likely very furious about the fees."
Megyn Kelly Calls Prince Harry a Fake Victim After Daily Mail Defeat
Megyn Kelly had her verdict ready before Harry finished his statement.
"It's yet another instance of Harry playing the fake victim," Kelly told Sky News Australia host Paul Murray. “He has been railing about this case for years now. He thinks of himself as some sort of an avenger of speech issues where he is going to punish the ones who tell lies or use surreptitious means in journalism to obtain facts about poor, embattled public figures like Harry and Meghan [Markle] and really thought he’d be truth to power…”
Kelly noted that Harry and Meghan love to play the victim.
Harry's press war rested on one argument: the tabloids killed his mother, and he was going to make them pay.
That argument has always been a lie.
Diana worked the press as skillfully as anyone who ever lived – she leveraged the paparazzi constantly, generated coverage on her own terms, and built a public persona that depended on exactly the kind of attention Harry now calls abuse.
"She knew how to work them just as well as anyone," Kelly said.
The drunk driver who killed Diana in that Paris tunnel was not a photographer – and the entire seven-year legal campaign Harry wrapped in her memory rested on a lie he chose never to correct.
Harry and Meghan court the press relentlessly when it serves them – jam lines, staged charity appearances, Netflix deals, Spotify deals, every one of them generating the front pages they claim to hate.
"They work the press the same as Princess Diana did," Kelly said, "and they just don't want the downsides of it."
Harry had one clean exit: Megxit.
He took it – left the titles behind, crossed the Atlantic – and then spent the next five years making sure nobody forgot it.
He chose the cameras instead – and then sued the people holding them.
The Duke of Sussex Lost Every Legal Battle That Mattered
Harry's press war covered three separate newspaper groups across seven years.
He won damages from Mirror Group Newspapers and extracted a settlement and apology from Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers in January 2025.
Against Associated Newspapers – the group that put every accused journalist on the stand to explain exactly how each story was sourced – he came up empty.
The Daily Mail didn't fold.
Its journalists showed up, told the truth, and beat a prince in open court.
A man who had every opportunity to walk away from public life and chose not to has no standing to sue over what public life costs.
The 67 million dollar bill arriving later this month will be harder to spin.
Sources:
- Meg Storm, "Megyn Blasts 'Fake Victim' Prince Harry After He Loses Massive Court Battle Against U.K. Press," MegynKelly.com, July 10, 2026.
- "Prince Harry Has Been Defeated in His £50 Million Privacy Lawsuit Against Associated Newspapers," GB News, July 7, 2026.
- Associated Newspapers Ltd., Public Statement on Justice Nicklin Judgment, July 7, 2026.
- "Prince Harry Loses Landmark Privacy Case Against Daily Mail Publisher," Deadline, July 7, 2026.