LONDON: Prince Harry settled his privacy claim against Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group on Wednesday (Jan 22) after the publisher admitted unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time, bringing the fiercely-contested legal battle to a dramatic end.
In a stunning victory for Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, also admitted it had intruded into the private life of his late mother, Princess Diana.
Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said the publisher had agreed to pay the prince substantial damages. A source familiar with the settlement said it involved an eight-figure sum.
Harry had been suing NGN at the High Court in London, accusing its newspapers of unlawfully obtaining private information about him from 1996 until 2011.
The trial to consider the royal’s case, and a similar lawsuit from former senior British lawmaker Tom Watson, was due to start on Tuesday but following last-gasp talks, the two sides reached a settlement, with NGN saying there had been wrongdoing at The Sun, something it had denied for years.
“NGN 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,” Sherborne said.
“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.”
