Harry's bad news lands at wrong time, but prince sticks to script

Image source, EPA By Sean Coughlan Royal correspondent Published 2 minutes ago The timing for Prince Harry couldn't have been worse. He had hardly stepped on to the stage to address an event in London about his Invictus Games when the news started hitting inboxes on phones around the room. Prince Harry's claims in a court case against the publishers of the Daily Mail had been demolished. It was a much worse outcome for him than had been expected. A wipe-out, without any straws to clutch at or fig leaves to hide behind. Prince Harry stuck to his script. Suit and tie in a heatwave, head down, reading out his prepared lines about the games at the event in Chatham House, welcoming Uganda as a new member country. But in a split-screen moment, the attention of the press in the room was elsewhere. Phones were being scanned for the ruling from the High Court, which showed he had lost all his claims against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL). Later, there were attempts at humour. Prince Harry messed around with a disc during a photo moment, as though he was going to throw it as a frisbee. He hugged some of the guests and had selfies taken. But attention was now being dragged back to the court result. And there were rumours that the duke's lawyer, David Sherborne, had been seen at Chatham House. Prince Harry disappeared from the room for a while, with conversations seeming to be going on in parallel to the Invictus event. Would there be a statement to the TV cameras in response to the court result? No, but there was an angry written statement from Prince Harry and fellow claimant Baroness Doreen Lawrence - the mother of Stephen Lawrence - attacking the judgement as a "complete and obvious whitewash". "We came to court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither," their statement said. There were also indications of defensiveness for later this week. An Invictus Games event in London on Wednesday will no longer have any external press representatives allowed inside. Any reporting will be from their in-house team. When he left Chatham House, the duke had some smiles and waves for the cameras. But it seemed more like grinning and bearing it rather than anything more upbeat. Harry loses High Court privacy case against Daily Mail publisher Published 1 hour ago Buckingham Palace says Prince Harry will not stay at palace Published 1 day ago Prince Harry and Meghan: Will they or won't they, and will we care? Published 2 days ago It's been a bleak week for the prince and today only added to that sense of chaos. This was a trip where he was meant to be accompanied by his wife Meghan and their children. That seems to have been scuppered by a row over security, for the start of the visit at least. The duke seemed to have hoped to stay at Buckingham Palace. But the row over his accommodation was a disaster for all concerned and he has very publicly not been able to stay there. That left his team asking if there really was no way of accommodating o