Prince Harry won his court battle against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper business after signing a settlement agreement that, for the first time, includes an apology for illegal activities pertaining to the Sun, reported news agency Reuters.
The settlement, which involves Prince Harry receiving “substantial” damages, is the most recent dramatic development in 20 years of legal drama surrounding the British press’s ruthless tactics during the era when newspapers sold millions of copies and influenced public opinion, reported.
In addition to costing the business magnate hundreds of millions of dollars to settle claims from the subjects of tabloid attention, the controversy ruined a newspaper controlled by Rupert Murdoch. Harry’s attempt to control the British press, which he accuses of destroying his life, splitting his family, and harassing both his late mother Princess Diana and his wife Meghan Markle, was also stoked by it.
Also read: The Sun publisher ready to pay ‘substantial damages’ to Prince Harry for…
Here are the details of the case:
November 2005: Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid News of the World alleges that Prince William has a knee ailment. A Buckingham Palace complaint spurred a police investigation that showed material for the piece originated from a hacked voicemail. Harry was suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) for illegal actions taken by reporters and private detectives employed by the company’s publications, The Sun and News of the World.
January 2007: For hacking royal aides’ phones to read messages left by William and others, Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator for the News of the World, received a six-month prison term, while Clive Goodman, the paper’s royal editor, received a four-month sentence. Subsequently, Goodman admits to hacking William’s phone 35 times and his then-girlfriend Kate Middleton’s (now Princess of Wales) phone.
Murdoch’s organisation insists that two renegade employees were responsible for the illegal activity without the editors’ knowledge.
January 2011: After the News of the World claims to have discovered “significant new information,” British police reopened their investigation into tabloid phone hacking in January 2011.
The publisher had consistently disputed allegations of illegal conduct at The Sun, although it had shut down the News of the World in 2011 following the phone hacking incident.
Although NGN’s apology only mentioned private investigators and did not acknowledge illegal actions by Sun journalists, Harry’s attorney said the deal was a vindication for those who had already reached a settlement.
Harry and Watson claimed in a joint statement that NGN has now disbursed almost £1 billion.
April 2011: The News of the World acknowledges its responsibility for phone hacking in April 2011. In order to resolve a hacking case, it consents to pay actress Sienna Miller 100,000 pounds the next month. Although it has never acknowledged responsibility for The Sun’s hacking, Murdoch’s News Corp. has since paid to resolve allegations made by several politicians, sports, celebrities, and others against The Sun and the News of the World.
July 2011: According to a July 2011 article in The Guardian, while police were looking for Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old child who was killed in 2002, News of the World writers compromised her phone. Public indignation over the discovery leads Murdoch to close the 168-year-old News of the World.
November 2012: According to the findings of a judge-led investigation into media ethics that was undertaken by former Prime Minister David Cameron, certain members of the press engaged in “outrageous” behaviour that “wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained.” In support of government control, Judge Brian Leveson suggests the establishment of a robust press watchdog. Only a portion of his conclusions have been applied.
October 2013: Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, former editors of News of the World, are put on trial at London‘s Central Criminal Court along with a number of other defendants for allegedly hacking phones and making unlawful payments to authorities. Coulson is found guilty and given an 18-month jail term following an eight-month trial. Brooks is found not guilty. She now serves as the CEO of Murdoch’s British newspaper company.
December 2015: The top prosecutor of England said that no additional criminal prosecutions will be brought against Murdoch’s U.K. corporation or its workers, or against ten individuals who were the subject of an investigation by the rival Mirror Group Newspapers, including Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror. Both businesses are still paying to resolve hacking cases.
Also read: City of London’s tallest tower fully leased with Riverstone deal
2019: Prince Harry files litigation against the Mirror Group, Associated Newspapers, and Murdoch’s News Group. He asserts that he gathered stories about his school days, adolescent mischievousness, and connections with ladies by hacking, bugging, deceit, or other unlawful intrusions.
February 2021: Meghan, Harry’s wife, prevails in a case for invasion of privacy against Associated Newspapers, the owner of the Daily Mail, for publishing a letter she sent to her father in 2018.
June 2023: Harry is the first British royal to testify in court in almost a century when he testifies in his case against the Mirror Group.
December 2023: When a court finds that Mirror newspapers had participated in unlawful phone hacking and employed private investigators to probe for personal information for well over ten years, Harry wins his lawsuit against the Mirror Group. He receives 140,000 pounds in damages in addition to legal fees.
February 2024: The Mirror Group consents to settle Harry’s unresolved claims by paying him secret damages and legal fees. Declaring his vindication, Harry makes the commitment, “Our mission continues.”
January 21, 2025: Harry and former Labour Party legislator Tom Watson filed cases against The Sun, and the trial is scheduled to begin. Harry is anticipated to testify in February. Out of dozens of claims, they are the only two left after others chose to accept settlements rather than take the chance of incurring potentially crippling legal expenses. However, when attorneys for both parties claim to have been engaged in extensive settlement talks, the opening is postponed, as reported by AP News.
January 22, 2025: News Group Newspapers offers “a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun” as part of the settlement that the two parties announce.
David Sherborne, Harry’s attorney, describes it as a “monumental victory” and says, “The time for accountability has arrived.”
What is the settlement’s significance?
The agreement greatly reduces the likelihood that a trial on claims of phone hacking and other illegal information gathering at The Sun and News of the World will ever occur.
For its side, NGN stated that the agreement reached on Wednesday “draws a line under the past and brings an end to this litigation” and that it will seek to have any future claims that could be brought dismissed.
In light of Wednesday’s apology, the claimants are anticipated to shift their attention to applying pressure on law enforcement and politicians to re-examine the phone-hacking incident, reported Reuters.
Also read: Revealed: Truth behind Prince Harry and Meghan’s ‘divorce’ book drama
Speaking outside of court, Watson challenged Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police, to supply the police with a “dossier exposing wrongdoing” from the claimants.
Prince Harry is suing who else ?
He is now suing the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday’s publisher, which is scheduled to go to trial in 2026.