Prince Harry and six other prominent claimants have been ordered to pay an interim £9.5 million towards the legal costs of Associated Newspapers after losing their High Court case over alleged unlawful information gathering.

The claimants include Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Doreen Lawrence and former Liberal Democrat politician Simon Hughes.

Their case accused the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday of unlawful methods of obtaining private information.

The High Court rejected the claims, leaving the group exposed to a substantial legal bill.

The £9.5 million order is an interim payment rather than the final determination of costs, meaning the ultimate amount they must pay could be considerably higher once the remaining expenses are assessed.

For Harry, the ruling represents another significant development in his long-running legal battles with sections of the British press.

He has pursued several separate cases over privacy, phone hacking and alleged unlawful information gathering, arguing that intrusive newspaper practices caused serious harm to him and people close to him.

The Associated Newspapers case has now moved from the underlying allegations to the financial consequences of defeat.

The immediate requirement is payment of the court-ordered £9.5 million contribution while the remaining recoverable legal costs are determined.