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Prince Harry celebrates a “monumental” victory on Wednesday after Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group settled his lawsuit, admitting unlawful actions at its flagship publication, The Sun, and agreeing to pay substantial damages. The settlement marked the first time the publisher had acknowledged wrongdoing, with Harry’s legal team asserting that the damages amounted to an eight-figure sum.
Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, had been suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of The Sunand the now-defunct News of the World, in the High Court in London. He alleged that the publications had illegally obtained private information about him between 1996 and 2011. NGN also admitted to breaching the privacy of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana.
In a joint statement, Harry and his co-claimant Tom Watson, a former senior British lawmaker, hailed the settlement as a monumental victory.
“Today the lies are laid bare. Today, the cover-ups are exposed. And today proves that no one stands above the law. The time for accountability has arrived,” they said, their statement read by their lawyer, David Sherborne, outside the High Court.
The lawsuit had been scheduled to go to trial on Tuesday, but following intense negotiations, both sides reached a settlement, with NGN finally acknowledging wrongdoing at The Sun, something it had consistently denied in the past.
NGN issued a full apology for the unlawful actions of private investigators working for The Sun between 1996 and 2011.
“NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun into his private life, including unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for the newspaper,” Sherborne told the court. The apology also extended to Princess Diana, acknowledging the intrusion into her private life.
An NGN spokesperson clarified that the apology was for the actions of private investigators and not its journalists.
“There are strong controls and processes in place at all our titles today to ensure this cannot happen now,” the spokesperson said.
The statement also suggested that the settlement would likely conclude any future lawsuits, warning that future claims would likely be dismissed.
NGN, which has paid out hundreds of millions of pounds in settlements over phone-hacking and other illegal information-gathering practices by The News of the World, has settled more than 1,300 lawsuits. These settlements involved celebrities, politicians, and ordinary people, many of whom were connected to major events.
In their statement, Harry and Watson noted that NGN had now paid out over £1 billion in compensation.
Harry had been determined to establish the truth, seeking accountability for senior figures at NGN. His primary target was Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of The Sun during part of the period in question, who is now the chief executive of News UK, the UK arm of Murdoch’s News Corp.
“They now admit, when she was editor of The Sun, they ran a criminal enterprise,” their statement said, calling for police and parliamentary investigations into alleged perjury and cover-ups.
However, NGN’s apology did not directly address any wrongdoing by senior figures or acknowledge any cover-ups by current or former executives. London police confirmed they were not conducting an active investigation, stating,
“We await any correspondence from the parties involved, which we will respond to in due course.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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