Prince Harry and others to pay over £9.5m in Mail's costs

Britain's Prince Harry and six others must pay more than £9.5m (€11.1m) to the Daily Mail's publisher by the end of next week after the first round of legal costs was decided following their failed High Court case.

The high-profile figures, including singer Elton John and actresses Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, sued Associated Newspapers Ltd over allegations of unlawful information-gathering.

The High Court in London has ordered the group of seven to pay £9,544,355 by next Friday, 28 August, as an initial contribution to the publisher's costs ahead of further hearings to determine the total sum.

That was close to the amount sought by Associated Newspapers, which also publishes the Mail On Sunday, which had asked for around £9.9m (€11.6m) as an interim payment, while lawyers for the claimants urged that the amount be set at around £7.9m (€9.2m).

Associated Newspapers had strongly denied the charges which were heard at an 11-week trial earlier this year, ultimately ending last month with the judge dismissing all the cases.

This week the matter returned to the High Court for a two-day hearing over the publisher's costs which stand at more than £34m (€39.7m).

"The claimants and their advisers have been on notice, since the hearing, that this would be the date for payment on account," Mr Justice Nicklin said today.

He criticised the claims as being "speculative and substantially inferential" adding that they "lacked a proper evidential foundation".

Mr Justice Nicklin also ruled that Associated Newspapers' costs should be determined on an indemnity basis - something which the publisher had pushed for.

Last month, Nicholas Bacon KC for the group of seven warned that adopting this approach would be "very significant" and could leave his clients without enough insurance cover.

Today, the publisher welcomed the ruling as "another overwhelming victory for the Mail and its journalism", claiming it was "a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives".

A spokesperson added: "The truth is that these outrageous claims should never have been brought. That they were pursued raises disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession."

The judgment comes after it was made public on Wednesday that Harry and his wife, the former actress Mehgan Markle, are moving back to the UK.

The couple decamped to California more than six years ago amid the Megxit crisis, but will relocate back to the UK later this month to live in a non-royal residence outside London.