Prince Harry’s former North Pole guide is being sued for £1million by a billionaire soy milk heiress over a cancelled expedition to the Titanic on the doomed Titan submersible.
Karen Lo, worth around £758m, is demanding a refund from adventurer Henry Cookson over the scrubbed underwater voyage after she paid Cookson’s firm £680,000 in 2017 for the once-in-a-lifetime excursion aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible.
The 2018 dive was cancelled after the vessel was struck by lightning, damaging its electronic systems and Lo was offered a priority place on a future dive instead, with a 100 per cent credit toward 2019 Titanic dives.
However, she never got her trip after Covid intervened and the Titan then imploded during a dive in June 2023, killing all five passengers aboard.
Prince Harry’s former North Pole guide is being sued for £1m by a billionaire soy milk heiress over a cancelled expedition to the Titanic on the doomed Titan submersible
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Lo is now suing Holland Park-based Henry Cookson Adventures Ltd under the Package Travel Regulations 1992, arguing that it was an express or implied term of the contract that the dive would take place within a “reasonable time”.
Her claim seeks the original £680,000 plus eight per cent interest since 2018.
Cookson’s company is fighting the claim, saying the heiress knew there was a no-refund policy when she paid.
His lawyers argue she had opportunities to join dives in 2021 and 2022 using her credit but chose not to.
An image of a Titan submarine used for such expeditionsOceanGateHong Kong-based Ms Lo’s wealth comes from Vitasoy, a soymilk and drinks giant founded by her grandfather.
Cookson runs an ultra-luxury adventure travel firm specialising in bespoke trips for the global elite, often costing millions.
Papers lodged with London’s High Court describe how Cookson had previously been “on friendly personal terms” with Lo.
He even attended her wedding in Rome and accompanied friends who travelled with the couple to Egypt as part of their honeymoon.
Prince Harry joined the Walking with the Wounded team on the island of Spitsbergen, for training before they started their charity trek to the North Pole in 2011
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Lo’s annual budget with Cookson’s firm reportedly ran into “tens of millions of US dollars”.
The Titan submersible was the first privately-owned vessel with a claimed maximum depth of 4,000 metres and completed several dives to the Titanic wreck in 2021 and 2022.
Prince Harry joined four British soldiers on a charity expedition in 2011, attempting to make the first unsupported trek to the North Pole by wounded servicemen.
