Prince Harry faces £1m bill after he 'comprehensively' lost his High Court ... trends now
Prince Harry was today ordered to reimburse taxpayers after losing his High Court battle with the Home Office for downgrading his police protection.
He potentially faces a bill of around £1million when his own legal costs are taken into account.
A judge rejected a bid to halve the amount he had to pay by saying the Duke of Sussex had 'comprehensively lost' his case.
Separately Sir Peter Lane also threw out the duke's application to appeal against the ruling, describing one section of it as 'frankly hopeless'.
Harry, who has previously vowed to appeal the case, can still approach the Court of Appeal directly if he wishes to pursue it.
The twin rulings are another legal blow to the duke after he lost his two-year Home Office battle in February.
Prince Harry (pictured at High Court last June) was today ordered to reimburse taxpayers after losing his High Court battle with the Home Office for downgrading his police protection
Harry had taken the Home Office to court over no longer being given the 'same degree' of protection after he and Meghan quit royal life and Britain in January 2020.
He had compared the dangers to him and his family to the risks his mother Princess Diana faced before her death in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi.
The Home Office spent more than £500,000 of public money successfully fighting the case. After he lost, Harry's lawyers argued in written submissions that he should only have to foot no more than half the public's legal costs.
But Sir Peter ruled: 'I am in no doubt that the claimant's submission that his costs liability should be subject to a reduction of 50-60% is unsupportable.' He added 'for the avoidance of doubt' that the duke's suggestion that his case had been 'partially successful' was 'without merit'.
The judge did agree with Harry's lawyers that the Home Office had committed certain breaches of legal rules, but he said these did 'not alter the fact that the claimant comprehensively lost'.
Sir Peter ordered the duke to pay 90 per cent of the public's legal bill. The exact sum was not specified.
But figures released via a Freedom of Information request a few weeks ago revealed the government had so far spent £514,128, including more than £180,000 on barristers, £320,000 on solicitors at the Government Legal Department, and £2,300 in court fees.
Harry's own legal costs have not been revealed, but could be similar.
