Duke of Sussex Prince Harry has received a disappointing news as he has lost a bid to have ANL publisher’s defence to his libel claim thrown out by the High Court.

According to reports, a judge at London’s High Court ruled on Friday that Prince Harry’s libel case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over an article about his security arrangements must go to trial, rejecting the royal’s attempts to have the publisher’s defence thrown out.

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Archie and Lilibet father had sued publisher last year over an article that stated he had tried to keep secret a separate legal fight with the British government over his publicly funded police protection, which was withdrawn after he stepped back from royal duties in 2020.

He had also applied to have the newspaper group’s defence thrown out, but Judge Matthew Nicklin said in a written ruling that it had a real prospect of success.

The judge says in the summary of his ruling: “The Duke of Sussex’s claim will now go through its remaining pre-trial phases and, unless resolved in some other way, to a trial at some point in 2024.”

Royal expert Chris Ship turned to X, formerly Twitter and said, “High Court judge rejects Prince Harry’s request to throw out the Mail On Sunday’s defence in one of his label cases against them (this is the one over a story the newspaper wrote about Harry’s security arrangements).

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“It means the case can proceed towards a trial.”