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

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