Prince Harry's 'embarrassment and distress' revealed as he seeks damages for 'hurtful' media coverage

Prince Harry's 'embarrassment and distress' has been revealed as he sues the Mail on Sunday for 'damaging' coverage of his actions which inspired a 'feeding frenzy of hostile comments.'

• Prince Harry is suing the Mail on Sunday publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited, for defamation.
• The Duke is suing the publisher because of the media coverage surrounding the security issues he faced when planning a return to the UK.
• In other royal news, Kate Middleton's heartbreaking parking lot phone call when Prince William made this major decision.

Court reports have revealed that Prince Harry suffered from, "hurt, embarrassment and distress," after the Mail on Sunday published an article that encouraged a "frenzy of hostile comments" aimed at the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle.

In January 2022 the Mail on Sunday published an article with the headline, 'Revealed: How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal fight over bodyguards secret...then minutes after the MoS broke story his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute.'

This was referencing the reports that revealed Prince Harry fears he's 'not safe' in the UK because of 'inherited risk' as he takes action over lack of protection. Reportedly Prince Harry's PR team then suggested that Prince Harry was unable to buy police protection and was in a legal dispute with the government about his family's security while in the UK.

The author of the article in question, Kate Mansey, tweeted at the time, "NEW: Harry wanted a confidentiality order on his court battle with the UK government… And when I did break the story, his spin machine briefed friendly journos first with a gloss that led to inaccurate headlines. So much for ‘tackling misinformation’… #royal"

The Express reported that the Duke's lawyers are not suing for aggravated damage and have claimed that the story itself and the comments from readers on the post that were “self-evidently exceptionally serious and damaging,” "adverse and hostile," and constituted an “attack on his [Prince Harry's] honesty and integrity."

The royal's lawyers have even claimed that this 'defamatory' piece has hindered the Prince's ability to take part in his charitable organizations. 

The legal experts said that this article, "undermines his fitness to be involved both in charitable and philanthropic work" as the Duke "suffered serious damage to his reputation and substantial hurt, embarrassment, and distress which is continuing.”

The royal's legal representatives reportedly also claimed that it is evident that this article was published to cause damage to the Duke's reputation. 

"It must have been plain to the [Mail on Sunday] that by giving these serious allegations such huge publicity in the terms and manner that it did, leading to inevitable repetition and the feeding frenzy of hostile comments, it could not but cause [Prince Harry’s] reputation substantial damage and cause considerable distress and hurt to the [Prince Harry’s] feelings, as has been the case,” said the Duke's lawyers.

The publisher responded by claiming that this defamation claim is yet another attempt to silence the UK media, "as part of his continuing self-declared battle with anyone in the media who dares to publish anything about him which is less than flattering".

Despite being hurt by these allegations, Prince Harry is reportedly unsurprised by the media's treatment of him. His lawyers claimed, that the Prince "has been upset (but sadly unsurprised) by the defendant’s distortion and misrepresentation of the facts in breach of the most basic journalistic standards and ethics."

Reportedly, Prince Harry is now facing an 'ultimate dilemma' as the Queen's Platinum Jubilee draws closer and royal fans expect the Duke and his family to return to the UK. It is also unclear what type of security will be available to the Prince or if he will stay in California when the celebrations for Her Majesty's 70 years on the throne begin in the Summer.