Prince Harry and six other high-profile figures have been ordered to make an initial payment of £9.54m in legal costs to Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Daily Mail, by 28 August.

The order follows the dismissal of their High Court privacy lawsuit against the publisher. While the £9.54m interim payment must be settled within days, the group could potentially be required to pay up to £25m more after that, taking Associated Newspapers' total recoverable defence costs up to £34.5m.

Although the claimants held insurance covering up to £16.2m of Associated Newspapers' costs in the event of defeat, the court's decision leaves the Duke of Sussex and his co-claimants facing a potential shortfall of around £18m.

Alongside Prince Harry, the claimants include Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, Liz Hurley, Sir Simon Hughes, Sadie Frost, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the peer whose son Stephen was murdered in 1993. The group had sued the publisher over allegations of unlawful information-gathering, which Associated Newspapers strenuously denied.

On 7 July, Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed the claims, ruling that the public figures had failed to prove their allegations. The judge made an exceptional order that the publisher's costs be assessed on an indemnity basis—which is more favourable to the newspaper group—because of the way the case was conducted, highlighting unsupportable claims that top executives had lied to the Leveson public inquiry.

The size of the interim payment had been disputed ahead of future hearings scheduled to determine the full legal costs in depth. Associated Newspapers had requested more than £9.9m, whereas lawyers representing the claimants argued the interim sum should be limited to just over £7.9m.

Dozens of witnesses gave evidence during the trial. Prince Harry flew in from the United States to attend court in person, while numerous current and former Associated Newspapers journalists and executives appeared to deny illegal activity. The ruling comes just days after the Duke and Duchess announced plans to return to the UK, with their children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, enrolled to start school in September.

Following the ruling, Associated Newspapers issued a statement describing the judgment as "a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives".

In response, Prince Harry and Baroness Lawrence criticised the outcome in a joint statement, saying: "We came to Court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither." They added: "It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected."

Prince Harry has said he is taking the time necessary to consider both the substantive and costs judgments and whether to pursue appeals against either decision or both. The claimants have until 2 October to attempt to launch an appeal, and I'll be following this one.