On Wednesday, Prince Harry celebrated a “monumental” victory against Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group after the publisher admitted to unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time and agreed to pay substantial damages.
Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, had filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, at the High Court in London. He alleged that the newspapers had illegally obtained private information about him from 1996 to 2011.
NGN also acknowledged intruding into the private life of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana.
A source familiar with the settlement reported that the damages amounted to an eight-figure sum.
“In a monumental victory today, News UK has admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, engaged in illegal practices,” Harry and his co-claimant Tom Watson said in a statement.
“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,” their lawyer David Sherborne stated outside the High Court.
The trial for Harry’s case and a similar lawsuit by former British lawmaker Watson was set to begin on Tuesday. However, after last-minute negotiations, both sides reached a settlement, with NGN acknowledging wrongdoing at The Sun—a claim it had previously 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 unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun,” Sherborne said.
“NGN further apologizes to the Duke for the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life as well as that of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, especially during his younger years.”
The company also admitted targeting Watson.
Accountability
NGN has previously paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering by the News of the World. More than 1,300 lawsuits involving celebrities, politicians, well-known sports figures, and ordinary people have been settled.
In their joint statement, Harry and Watson claimed NGN had now paid out more than 1 billion pounds in settlements.
NGN had consistently denied any wrongdoing at The Sun or that senior figures were aware of it or attempted to cover it up, as Harry’s lawsuit alleged.
Harry stated that his mission was to seek truth and accountability, noting that other claimants had settled their cases to avoid the risk of multi-million-pound legal fees, even if they won in court. He rejected NGN’s offer, emphasizing that his lawsuit was not about money but about holding executives and editors accountable for their actions.
However, NGN’s apology did not directly reference the actions of its senior figures.
“Prince Harry and Tom Watson join others in calling for the police and parliament to investigate not only the unlawful activity now finally admitted but also the perjury and cover-ups that occurred,” their statement said.