A royal expert has revealed that Prince Harry's legal costs are "going to be enormous" after he dropped his libel case against a British newspaper.
Prince Harry faces a £750,000 legal bill after withdrawing his case against The Mail on Sunday in a move which could be difficult to pay as he "is not doing much work."
The Duke of Sussex, 39, had sued the newspaper over an article about his publicly-funded security arrangements when visiting the UK after stepping back as a senior royal.
Royal expert Michael Cole told GB News: "A bad day yesterday for the Sussexes in their California Camelot.
Prince Harry has dropped his libel case against Mail on Sunday
GETTY"The Prince of litigation throwing in the towel in this libel case and a very expensive decision as well at the very last minute.
"His costs are going to be enormous. A quarter-of-a-million pounds, the newspapers cost, and then another half-a-million pounds of costs that he has accrued in bringing this case and then dropping it peremptorily as it was about to go to the next stage.
"The libel courts of course are open to us all but, like Ritz Hotel, they're very expensive and in libel cases there is no legal aid. You pay your tab.
"This is a great deal of money, particularly if you don't seem to be doing much in the way of work."
His legal costs are going to be "enormous"
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"Although this case has been dropped, the Prince still has cases outstanding against the Home Office and the publishers of The Sun newspaper and the Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers.
"But this one has been ticked off expensively and, after his success against the Mirror Group a few months ago, this will definitely be a blow to the man we see coming out of the courts."
The former BBC royal correspondent added that he has sympathy for the Prince and urged him to "return to the UK."
He explained: "I've seen him from the time he was a little boy, the day he went to nursery school for the first time with his mother and came out with his finger puppet to take home to show his mother afterward.
The Prince is "not doing much work"
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"I've seen him on his first holidays abroad with his family. Of course we've seen him grow up. And let us remember that, the happy Prince.
"Let us remember the Prince we admired for doing two tours of arduous duty in Afghanistan. He was extraordinarily popular.
"Then it all went sideways and they scooted off, first of all to Canada and then to California.
"So it is very sad to see it brought to this particular stage.
"He has said in recent days that he misses Britain, that he misses his friends, he misses the sport, he misses the camaraderie, he misses a lot about this country. And in a way, I think we miss him.
"With recent events, both the Princess of Wales in hospital and the King going into hospital, it would have been very important for him to pick up some slack here and play his full part in the Royal Family."
"And you know, never say never, the prodigal son is always welcome."