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 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.

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 one person for one night.

This court defeat is one battle in what has been a long campaign by Prince Harry against what he sees as the unfair excesses of the press.

It has clearly been a deeply personal cause. He's challenged what he sees as damaging press intrusions that have harmed his private life and his relationships.

It's a really raw wound. One that goes back to the treatment of his mother, Princess Diana.

But that campaign against the tabloids, with some wins, most notably against the Mirror group, seems to be ending.

It's still not clear if the group of seven claimants - all of whom lost - will appeal against the ANL result. But there seem to be no plans for any fresh cases.

This week will raise big questions about what happens next for Prince Harry.

It might have been something of a cautionary tale.

He's back in the UK to promote his Invictus Games, which are due to be held in Birmingham next year.

But the questions are still about his relationship with other royals and whether or not he will meet his father, King Charles III.

They probably will meet. And his wife Meghan could still turn up in the UK this week, surrounded by the media circus that will inevitably accompany that moment.

With another piece of timing, her food brand, As Ever, sent out an advertising email on Tuesday afternoon headed: "Back to raspberry."

Was that sending a message?

It seems unlikely the duke will see his brother, Prince William, who was at an engagement of his own about 10 miles away, but may as well have been on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Relations with the Palace must be at rock bottom after the unedifying war of words over whether he was going to stay at Buckingham Palace. Trust must be in short supply.

But none of this is what Prince Harry wants to talk about this week.

At this Invictus gathering, in a room dotted with military uniforms, there were inspiring stories of resilience against adversity.

There were international representatives there, including from Ukraine.

Prince Harry's speech for Invictus might have been about something closer to home.

He called for: "A spark that can ignite recovery, rebuild confidence and reconnect people with a community that understands them."

But while Prince Harry was sticking to the script, events had other ideas.