David Barclay loses libel case against obscure French playwright

Billionaire sued over play about two wealthy Britons who live in a castle in the Channel Islands

The reclusive billionaire owner of the Daily Telegraph and the Ritz hotel has been ordered to pay damages to an obscure French playwright who wrote a play that satirised the lives of him and his twin brother.

Sir David Barclay unsuccessfully sued Hi(C)di Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre for defamation and invasion of privacy after the French author wrote a work entitled Two Brothers and the Lions, about the lives of two Britons "who become cold, selfish monsters in the heart of our democratic societies".