When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK last year, the Queen made Prince Harry give up his honorary position with the Royal Marines. It was one of her most petty moves, because Harry loves the military, he loves working on military and veterans issues and he loves those communities. Because the Queen forced him out, the Daily Mail thought that they would organize a story attacking Harry for abandoning the Royal Marines, and they quoted some ancient douche who went on the record about how mad he was that Harry wouldn’t abandon his wife and child just to maintain a connection to the Royal Marines. Harry was pissed, and he denied the Daily Mail story quickly. He threatened the paper with a lawsuit, then he actually pursued legal action. The Mail ended up issuing an apology in writing. And now Harry accepted “substantial damages” from the Mail:
The Duke of Sussex has accepted an apology and “substantial damages” from The Mail On Sunday and MailOnline’s publisher over claims he snubbed the Royal Marines after stepping down as a senior royal. Jenny Afia, representing Prince Harry, said: “The baseless, false and defamatory stories published in the Mail on Sunday and on the website MailOnline constituted not only a personal attack upon the Duke’s character but also wrongly brought into question his service to this country.”
Harry sued Associated Newspapers for libel over two “almost identical” articles published in October, which included the headline “top general accuses Harry of turning his back on the Royal Marines”. The articles claimed the duke had “not been in touch… since his last appearance as an honorary Marine in March”.
At a brief remote High Court hearing on Monday morning, Harry’s lawyers said Associated Newspapers had accepted the allegations were false, “albeit after considerable damage was already done”.
It was not confirmed how much he was awarded in damages, however, Harry is donating the money to the Invictus Games Foundation, which runs the competition he set up in 2014 for wounded, injured, or sick servicemen and women. His lawyer said this will allow him to “feel something good had come out of the situation”.
The newspaper had published an apology in December, but Harry and his legal team believed it was not given the same prominence as the original articles and therefore asked for permission for the settlement to be read out in open court. Harry served as an army officer for 10 years and – as a member of the Royal Family – holds a number of honorary military titles.
I chuckled, just because I feel like Harry has adopted an American motto of “f–k around and find out.” He is pissed off at this whole situation, and it genuinely feels like his family has narrowed in on what will hurt him the most. The Queen, Charles, William, they’re all using Harry’s long-standing commitment to military causes to inflict pain, and they’re the ones behind so many of these “Harry abandoned the British military” stories. Anyway, the Daily Mail decided to f–k around and Harry made sure that they found out.
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I am glad I lived to see this happen and it proves it was a good thing Harry and Meghan got away from cesspool Island. That paper is the worst of the worst and appeals to those with the basest of instincts. They even lied to their readers about donating to Harry’s charity. Harry keep on fighting and keep on showing them you are the only decent Windsor in that awful family.
This. The thing with Harry and the thing his family doesn’t understand is that he has nothing to lose like they do. They’ve already done their worse to him during his young adult years and now he in a position of being able to say NO and not back down because someone is going to let this or that be known. They even attempted to guilt him into playing ball when the Crown 4 came out and his useless family felt put upon – NO. The attempt to make a statement alongside his brother about his mother’s treatment by the BBC – NO. The answer is now forever NO and good for Harry, he is Diana’s revenge against that family and the BM.
He also has nothing to lose because he has no skeletons, unlike the rest of those creeps. No cheating, drugs, hookers, gstad nonsense, no dead girls in the pond, no pedophelia, nothing! The worst of it (aka the naked pics in Vegas which honestly are charming, and the nazi costume, which isn’t) are out in the open. One of the benefits to clean living: you can’t be blackmailed.
Can I ask who had a dead girl in their pond?
The Royals have never taken on board that Harry is a real fighter, and will fight for what’s right. They underestimate him at every turn, as they did his mother, Diana. What poor judges of character they all are.
The DM also lied about donating to Invictus. The media over there is f*cking awful. If the papers were a person H&M could probably get a restraining order out on them. It’s ridiculous but I hope Harry and Meghan continue to sue them into oblivion.
That was actually shocking to me. Not shocking because it’s awful, we know the Mail are awful, but because it’s such a brazen lie! And about a donation to a charity!
On this tip of DM being awful, I have been avoiding their coverage but my sis sent me two DM articles yesterday that were very mild in tone about Meghan. One about her not
being scheduledd to go to the UK with Harry but phrasing it as her not wanting to upstage whatever causes he will be there for. I wondered if the entire editorial team had been replaced by people with a soul but now I see it’s really just another calm in the storm. They’re hiding their hand until they can be sure this win doesn’t fuel a pendulum shift in the Sussexes favor.
I bet they’ll be absolute angels just before the ruling for Meghan’s case.
I’m just loving the idea of Harry just not giving a fuck anymore! I’m imagining Harry having a pow wow with someone like Jay Z with Jay telling him “Now let me tell you how I dealt with this shit in the hood.”
Just wait until he gets a Twitter account and does a ‘U bum’ to someone deserving.
The way he handles his sh*t is so impressive, like the time he called out Rupert Murdoch by name. He really has balls of steel to go after them like that.
Lol dying of laughter. I so love Harry. And your image is now stuck in my head and I am still laughing
Once you start saying no to bullshit you find out it’s the best feeling in the world. Harry got a taste of that power and he’s not letting go now!
Makes me think of a some lines in a Josh Ritter song, about hypocrites trying to bully and shame someone into conforming to their town norms:
“Be good to everybody, be a strength to the weak.
Be a joy to the joyful, be the laughter in the grief.
And give your love freely to whoever that you please.
Don’t let nobody tell you ’bout who you oughta be.
And when you get damned in the popular opinion it’s just another damn of the damns you’re not giving.”
He’s walking tall and strong through life, got his family out of a punishing hellhole and now isn’t going to hesitate to call stuff out when he pleases.
Good! Let the message of “we will not hesitate to sue” be heard loud and clear to everyone in the media
It’s good that Harry just didn’t accept the Daily Mail limp printed apology, made them admit in court that the story was false and got on record that the Daily didn’t donate money as they stated in their apology. He must be loving that he now has the freedom and finances to go after the British press whenever they lie about him and his family.
Whoever came up with “never complain, never explain” must not have read the tabs. Staying silent in the face of damaging lies lets the lies live forever. Harry seems to be the only royal who gets that.
That was just another way they controlled people. The Firm and the tabloids are inextricably intertwined. There is information going around today that children of courtiers work for these tabloids. That some of them and or their family worked for the royal households in some capacity in the past. It really is a cabal.
I believe it was the queen who coined “never explain, never complain” and she would say that wouldn’t she. The entire machine is built around protecting her as the reigning monarch. The machine will literally (and has) thrown her children under the bus to protect her. They would NEVER publish straight up attacks on the ruling monarch. Hell, even when she wouldn’t acknowledge her dead daughter in law, the editorials were critical but still very respectful towards her. Bessy is no different than any other monarch. Hugely privileged, very narcissistic and very threatened by the popularity of her descendants.
Mac/Julie: it was Disraeli who came up with ‘never complain, never explain’.
Petty Betty keeps quiet because she cannot articulate a proper argument. She’s good for waving hands and annual Christmas speech.
Go Harry, I commented on the birth certificate story that i love how they can now speak out for themselves and this is more of the same. They don’t have to sit and take it all to deflect from the D&D of Useless.
Also, the American motto of “f–k around and find out.” is new to me and I love it. Maybe I’ve found a new years resolution.
It’s specifically a Philadelphia motto, as it originated here. It doesn’t apply everywhere, but it very much matches Philly mood.
Oooooh, that’s probably why I keep seeing it on Gritty memes. Cool.
@sarahcs, I had the exact same reaction to his new American motto. Good for him!
Yeah, I needed a 2021 motto, and ‘f**k around & find out’ is perfection.
I also like “underestimate me. That’ll be fun.”
The fact that these tabloids still try to push that Harry is miserable in America and wants to come back is pathetic and sad. This is more proof that he is so done and will never ever come back. I hope they eventually get the message. And lying about donating to a charity is so low. But this is the British media so I shouldn’t be surprised.
I absolutely am not surprise when they lie. I’ve come to expect the most despicable behavior from the BM – with few exceptions so whenever they do something vile, I just shrug and say, of course they did. Before Meghan Markle married into the BRF my view of all things Britain was different that currently.
I’m glad that you pointed out that it is the Queen, Charles and William.
100 percent agree with this. Harry family is royal redneck shit .
Fuck around and find out should be the new motto on the Sussex crest. They are beyond sick and tired of the racist BM lying about them for clicks. Good on Harry for getting this all on record, especially the truth about the donation.
Good King Harry. This guy gets more attractive every time he fights back.
I know that he would likely hate it, but I wish “King Harry” became a thing. I would love to see the tantrums Willileaks would throw.
Lol absolutely
I’m sure King Archie annoys some people already LOL
I call him King Harry in my head sometimes. Not that I would want him to be King in the UK because yes, he would hate it. But he’s like one of those Kings who is chosen by the people instead of just inheriting the throne.
Wm has thrown those tantrums for years, as it has been known most of their lives that Diana referred to Harry as Good King Harry.
Good! They only correct the record when they’re sued. I also read that the paper initially offered to make a donation when they published that weak correction, but never actually did. If this case can be decided so quickly, why is Meghan’s suit being dragged out with all this superfluous details added in? After this weekend of crazy stories the judge would have to be crazy not to see there is a concerted media campaign against Meghan by this tabloid.
King Harry.
I really hope H&M sue, and sue, and sue the British tabloids. Forever. Sue until Murdoch weeps and the Daily Mail and Sun go out of business.
Sue them Harry.
Why is British Media so sick and dumb? There appears to be no critical thinking and yellow media is so invasive. They’re just pushing propaganda, PROVEN LIES and racist shit. This is just appaling to me, having institutions like Cambridge and Oxford in the UK but the country is beholden to some toxic 3way between the Tories, BRF and BM. I’ve even stopped following BBC on Facebook.
Another win for the The Red King.
The best news all day-Congrats to Harry for standing up and taking the bull by the horns so to speak-Harry ‘s spine is more steely than most people want to believe-A lot of brits on social media call him a dimwit constantly-I truly hate how they try to smear him about his mental state-Disgusting people-By saying these things shows no respect for him from his own people or trolls maybe-Those British tabloids are truly stupid-they keep writing lies and smears about Harry and Meghan with the Sussex not responding 90% of the time-They look ignorant and stuck on being stupid with their writings-God bless the Sussex family-KEEP ON TRUCKING