Is the court judgement relating to the £34.4 million that Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (and other celebs including Elton John, Baroness Lawrence and former Lib Dem deputy leader Sir Simon Hughes) has been ordered to pay to Associated Newspapers related to the Sussexes shock UK return to the UK?

One wonders.  Prince Harry has been given just a week to pay his share of almost £10 million in the first tranche of legal costs relating to his failed privacy case claiming that he – and his fellow celebrities – were victims of “unlawful information gathering” including hacking.  All charges were dismissed by Mr Justice Nicklin. 

The judge on Friday, 21^st August, has now ruled that the duke and celebrities should have the costs calculated on “indemnity basis”. He ordered an initial payment of £9,544,355 by August 28 and refused to cap the total costs. Associated Newspapers are also demanding an initial £111,767 in individual costs from Harry. With the duke and celebrities’ legal insurance capped at £16.2 million, this means a likely £18 million shortfall in the total sought by the Associated Newspaper Group. They have previously said they will “go for the jugular” in recouping legal costs.

It’s not clear how the £18 million shortfall will be shared. But it seems likely that – despite some financial subsidy from the estate of Max Mosley, the late former head of Formula One who loathed the press after he was exposed for hosting orgies – Harry will be having to write a series of very large cheques. 

The truth is that Meghan and Harry have a billionaire LA lifestyle they can’t afford. Harry and Meghan’s joint talent for making poor commercial decisions and burning through millions of dollars – as well as a small personal army of staff and PR/comms advisors – may also have something to do with the move back to the UK. The court costs will be painful, to say the least. 

Don;t be surprised to see their Provence-style Montecito house on the market at some point soon. The luxury house in the Santa Barbara area is estimated to be worth between $23 million and $25 million, possibly more thanks to the royals-in-exile provenance and sky rocketing Santa Barbara area prices. The couple bought the 7.38-acre estate in June 2020 for $14.65 million, around £12 million at the time. In short, if they do sell, or have to sell, they may walk away with something like a $10 million profit.

“Prince Harry has been given just a week to pay his share of almost £10 million in the first tranche of legal costs relating to his failed privacy case”

Other than the nasty legal bill faced by Harry, there are other good reasons to sell. Annual property taxes for the year 2025 were over $152,000. On top of this, the monthly payments on their $9.52 million mortgage have been estimated at between $40,000 and $43,000. Ouch. Add in your garden and pool maintenance, security, and some experts have said the couple could still be having to pay out as much as $650,000 a year to keep “The Chateau” running, even if they are living back in the UK. 

It’s a holiday, not a ‘Sussex summit’, say royal insiders of the current Balmoral gathering of royal families. One question being asked is whether there is any chance that Harry’s return to the UK will bring peace within the warring royal camps. With Harry having lost his court case and privacy battle with the media, he has now apparently agreed to an effective family gagging order on laundering any more family dirt. 

“Add in your garden and pool maintenance, security, and some experts have said the couple could still be having to pay out as much as $650,000 a year to keep “The Chateau” running, even if they are living back in the UK” 

But will this really result in a media peace truce? And what are the realistic chances of any hatchet burying with his “arch-nemesis” (as he described his brother in Spare) Prince Wiliam and the Princess of Wales. In May 2025, regarding his security concerns, Harry said: “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point”. 

Thus far, the press surrounding the return of the Sussexes has been fairly positive, indeed far more positive than in its coverage of the couple’s activities in the US. Despite the surprise, the reaction from the Palace and the Government has also been relatively positive although, unsurprisingly, we’ve heard nothing from the Prince of Wales camp. 

The hope must be that the return of the Sussexes back home might herald a new dawn for their badly tarnished public image. But who will be masterminding this volte face in the royal spinning wars? 

The problem is that they have already burnt through various teams of PR and comms experts and the word out in UK comms-land is that few may want to work for them, for fear of being burnt, or spat out, following the extraordinary churn of public relations and communications personnel, getting through at least eleven separate press secretaries and top-tier PR chiefs since their 2018 marriage. 

Even in the early “royal honeymoon years” comms aides Jason Knauf and Sarah Latham stepped back from royal duties due to the pressure and difficulties faced working for the couple. The “Megxit” Exodus to California in 2020 triggered immediate departures, including early press aides and U.K. team members.

The California Era saw the departure of Toya Holness and Christine Schirmer who managed initial US launches; next they parted ways with pricey Hollywood crisis management firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis in late 2022; other short-lived roles included chief of staff Josh Kettler, global press secretary Ashley Hansen, and director of communications Emily Robinson, culminating in chief communications officer Meredith Maines stepping down after less than a year. Previously, so I hear, there was often a clash mismatch between the couple’s reactive media demands and an apparent reluctance to follow professional PR advice. 

The sole person now in charge of Harry and Meghan’s comms is a Brit called Liam Macguire whom Harry has known for years through the Invictus Games. So not exactly ex-Edelman or Brunswick. One royal media insider I spoke to said that it’s only a “skeleton” PR operation and he certainly wasn’t being paid anything like the vast sums contracted to the likes of global PR boss Meredith Maines. Maybe they are tightening their belts. If the Montecito house ends up on the market, I’ll be quick to remind readers that ‘money’ tends to be at the root of most unexpected ex-pat departures home.