Prince Harry looks on during a Diana Award panel about mental health at the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit, held at the Sheraton New York Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US, Sept 23, 2024. [Photo/Agencies]
Britain's Prince Harry claimed what has been called a "monumental" victory this week against publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspapers in the United Kingdom, after News Group Newspapers, or NGN, paid out substantial damages shortly before a high-profile court case was due to start, and made an unprecedented public apology for years of intruding into his private life.
More than 1,300 claimants had previously settled suits with NGN, which owns the now-defunct News of the World and the still-published The Sun newspapers, but Harry, the second son of King Charles III, joined with former senior Labour Party member of parliament Tom Watson to take his case to court instead.
At the last minute, a settlement was reached and the company offered Harry a "full and unequivocal apology".
In a statement, NGN was forced to acknowledge "phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators" targeting the prince, accusations that, before the trial, it had denied.
"We acknowledge and apologize for the distress caused to the duke (Harry is also known as the duke of Sussex), and the damage inflicted on relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay him substantial damages," the statement continued.
It also acknowledged intrusive actions against Harry's late mother, Diana, princess of Wales, who died in 1997 when her car, being chased by paparazzi, was involved in a crash in Paris.
Harry was 12 years old at the time and has said her death triggered mental health issues that lasted for decades.
Harry's uncle, Charles Spencer, said of the legal action: "It takes an enormous amount of guts to take on opponents like News Group Newspapers, and great tenacity to win.
"It's just wonderful that Harry fought for — and gained — an apology to his mother … she would be incredibly touched at that and rightly proud."
The News of the World, one of the UK's best-selling papers, was shut in 2011 because of public outrage over the tactics it used, but the settlement was the first acknowledgement that The Sun had behaved in a similar way.
"This represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong-armed into settling without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them," Harry's attorney David Sherborne told journalists outside court.
In 2023, Harry won a case against Mirror Group Newspapers over claims that his phone had been hacked with the knowledge of senior editorial staff, and he will be involved in another phone-hacking case next year, against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail.
But crucially, this week's settlement meant many of his claims were not tested in court, and remain unproven, in particular the ones about former The Sun editor Rebekah Brooks, and Will Lewis, now publisher of the Washington Post, knowing about and covering up wrongdoing.
"These allegations were and continue to be strongly denied," said a spokesperson for NGN. "Extensive evidence would have been called in trial to rebut these allegations from senior staff from technology and legal."
