Prince Harry, Elton John and several other public figures have been ordered to pay $13 million (£9.5 million) towards the legal costs of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, after losing their privacy lawsuit against the company. The seven claimants, who also include Liz Hurley and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, must make the payment by 28 August, with the sum expected to rise significantly once the full legal bill is settled. The ruling adds financial consequences to a case that Harry has already condemned as a "whitewash", deepening his long-running clash with the British press.

The claimants had accused Associated Newspapers of unlawful information gathering, including phone tapping, bribing corrupt police officials and impersonating people to access medical records. A High Court judge dismissed all the claims in July, finding the group had failed to prove their allegations where lawful sources of information remained plausible. The $13 million payment is only an initial instalment, with Associated Newspapers' total legal costs estimated to exceed $46 million (£34 million); the publisher has dismissed the claims as "preposterous smears" linked to the wider phone hacking scandal.