Queen’s Nephew Wins Lawsuit Against Paper on Brawl Story
Queen Elizabeth’s nephew Viscount Linley won libel damages of $57,000 today over a newspaper story that said he had been banned from a bar for throwing beer around.
Linley, the 28-year-old son of Princess Margaret and her former husband Lord Snowdon, said the article in the tabloid Today depicted him as an upper-class “lager lout”--a British term for a drunken hooligan.
“I decided to issue proceedings in respect of the story in Today newspaper because it was a complete invention, and my request for the publication of an immediate apology was refused,” Linley said in a statement after the verdict.
Today did not dispute that the article was untrue but said it based the story on information provided by the manager at the time of the Ferret & Firkin pub in London, where Linley was alleged to have poured beer over his friends.
The manager, Carolyn Peacock, denied in court that she was the source for the article. The newspaper will have to pay legal costs of about $122,000 but said it will appeal the size of the damages.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
