Prince Harry sues major British newspaper group

Britain's Prince Harry has launched new legal action against one of the country's biggest newspaper groups, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

The complaint against Associated Newspapers -- which publishes the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline -- follows his wife Meghan Markle's recent victory in a separate, long-running case against the same group.

A spokesperson for the pair told AFP that a complaint had been filed by Harry, without specifying its nature or the publication being sued.

Multiple UK media reports said Harry -- Queen Elizabeth II's grandson -- was suing for libel over a Mail on Sunday article alleging he had sought to keep a request for British police protection under wraps.

Markle, 40, and Harry, 37, live in California after stepping down from royal duties in 2019, which caused them to lose their UK taxpayer-paid protection.

Last month, Harry appealed to the UK courts after the government refused to allow him to pay for police protection out of his own pocket, arguing the decision means he cannot return home.

A lawyer for Harry told a London court last week that the UK "will always be his home," but that his own private security team in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction or access to UK intelligence necessary to keep his family safe.

The government lawyer dismissed Harry's offer to pay for police protection as "irrelevant," writing to the court that personal "security by the police is not available on a privately financed basis."

The couple have recently taken legal action against a number of publications, alleging invasion of privacy.

Following her second court victory against Associated Newspapers in December for breach of privacy -- over the publication of a letter she wrote to her estranged father -- Markle called for a reform of tabloid culture.

The industry, she said, "conditions people to be cruel and profits from the lies and pain that they create."