Prince Harry has received an apology — and won “substantial” damages — as he settles his long-running legal fight with the owners of The Sun newspaper.
In addition to issuing a “full and unequivocal” apology for the “serious intrusion” into his private life, the newspaper group also made a retroactive apology to Diana, Princess of Wales, who the prince has claimed was “one of the first victims” of phone hacking.
“NGN further apologises to the Duke for the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life as well as the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, in particular during his younger years,” their apology reads in part.
In the suit, the prince claimed that the tabloid had “unlawfully” gathered information about him, using illegal methods like phone hacking, bugging, “blagging” (where you pretend to be someone you’re not to get information about someone else, like private medical information) and surveillance to invade his privacy and turn those “scoops” into more than 200 stories that appeared in their paper.
He alleges this behaviour dates as far back as 1996, when he would have been a teenager. The most-cited example of this is a story, published almost exactly 20 years ago, about an “emotional Harry” calling his then-girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, at midnight, information that he says they could only have obtained through illegal means.
This settlement came just as the trial, six years in the making, was set to begin being argued before a judge.
In fact, the lawyers for the two sides appeared in court yesterday as if to begin proceedings, but then asked for repeated delays as they appeared to hammer out the final details of the deal. Prince Harry’s lawyer said some of the delay was due to “time reasons,” suggesting he was in conversation with the prince, back home in California and eight hours behind.
The Duke of Sussex and Lord Tom Watson, a British politician who also received an apology and a settlement today, were the last two claimants standing against News Group Newspapers, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled parent company of The Sun and now-defunct News of the World tabloids. The media company has already spent over £1 billion to settle more than 1,000 other claims, including ones made by other public figures like Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller.
Prince Harry’s lawyers have called it a “monumental victory,” and a “vindication for hundreds of other claimants strong-armed into settling without getting to the truth.”
The exact amount of the settlement has not been revealed, but the BBC says that a source tells them the legal fees for both sides of the case, which News Group Newspapers must pay, are estimated to be £10 million.
In a statement, NGN makes it clear that “after more than a decade of litigation, and 14 years since the News of the World closed down, today’s settlement draws a line under the past and brings an end to this litigation.”
Prince Harry’s fellow claimant, Lord Watson, hailed him as “a predator to the beast of big media,” and paid tribute to his “bravery and astonishing courage.”
There has been no direct statement from Prince Harry himself, who remains in California but was expected to testify had the case gone to trial.
He and his wife, Meghan Markle, were the subject of a so-called “exposé” in Vanity Fair that was published over the weekend, and which, among other claims, made renewed allegations of bullying by Markle against employees. The couple have not commented on those either, and declined to be interviewed for the piece.
Last week, they were also accused of being “disaster tourists” by actor Justine Batemen after they were seen touring the burnt-out Palisades neighbourhood while volunteering at an event to assist survivors.
Markle, for her part, chose to delay the launch of her long-anticipated Netflix lifestyle show to March in response to the fires in her home State of California.
In 2023, Prince Harry won a similar legal case against The Mirror group, and was awarded £140,000 and his legal costs. Markle has also been successful in legal action against tabloids: In 2021, she won for invasion of privacy by the parent company of the Daily Mail newspaper, who published a private letter she sent to her father before her wedding in 2018.
