It seems the renegade royal has run away again. All of Fleet Street was eagerly anticipating the mother of all media showdowns this month, with Prince Harry due in court for his libel trial with the publishers of the Mail on Sunday, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL). The MoS is the biggest selling Sunday in the land while the Prince smelled blood after his Christmas triumph against the Mirror.

Harry’s claim concerned a February 2022 article about his publicly funded security arrangements when visiting the UK. Lawyers for the dilettante Duke claimed the story ‘purported to reveal, in sensational terms’ that information from court documents ‘contradicted public statements he had previously made about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family whilst in the UK’. ANL contested the claim, arguing the article expressed an ‘honest opinion’ and did not cause ‘serious harm’ to his reputation.

The stage was set for a showdown at the High Court today. But at 10 a.m, the Prince abandoned his case just hours before a deadline for his lawyers to pass over a list of relevant documents. Instead, his lawyers informed the High Court that he was ‘discontinuing’ his case. Poor old Hazza will now face having to pay the newspaper’s costs of £250,000 along with his own lawyers’ fees, which brings the total bill to a reported figure of more than £750,000. Ouch.

It’s not even the first defeat that Harry has sustained at the hands of ANL. In a ruling last month, the duke lost a bid to have ANL’s ‘honest opinion’ thrown out by a judge and was ordered to pay £48,447 towards the publisher’s lawyers’ bills. Good thing he’s still got the Netflix millions…