Prince Harry won a monumental victory Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids issued an unprecedented apology for interfering in his life for decades and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his life-threatening lawsuit private.
News Group Newspapers has offered “a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the Sun’s serious intrusion between 1996 and 2011 into his private life,” Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, read in a statement to the court.
The statement even went beyond the scope of the case to acknowledge an intrusion into the life of Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana and the impact it had on his family.
“We acknowledge and apologize for the distress caused to the Duke and the damage inflicted on relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay him substantial damages,” the settlement statement said.
His phone was hacked and he was spied on
It was the first time News Group had admitted wrongdoing at the Sun, a newspaper that once sold millions of copies with its formula on sport, celebrities and sex – including topless women on page 3 .
Harry had vowed to take his case to court to publicly denounce the newspaper’s wrongdoing and obtain a court ruling upholding his claims.
FILE – News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch delivers a speech at the National Summit on Education Reform in San Francisco, October 14, 2011.
AP Photo/Noah Berger, file
In a statement read by his lawyer, Harry claimed he had achieved the accountability he sought for himself and hundreds of others, including ordinary people, who were spied on.
News Group admitted to “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators” targeting Harry. NGN had strongly denied these allegations before the trial.
“This represents vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were forced to settle without being able to know the truth about what was done to them,” Sherborne told the High Court in London.
Alleged wrongdoing at the top
The explosive announcement came after the start of the trial was delayed a day as last-minute settlement talks heated up outside court.
Harry, 40, youngest son of King Charles III, and Tom Watson, a former Labor MP, were the only two remaining claimants among more than 1,300 others who had settled claims against News Group newspapers over allegations of hacking of their telephones. and investigators illegally interfered in their lives.
The company engaged in “perjury and cover-ups” to obscure the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other documents, Harry and Watson said in a joint statement read by Sherborne.
“There was a vast conspiracy,” the statement said, in which “senior leaders deliberately obstructed justice.”
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News Group said in a statement that it would have disputed at trial that the evidence was destroyed and continues to deny the allegations.
While News Group had apologized unreservedly for its wrongdoing in closing News of the World, it had never done so to The Sun and had vehemently denied the allegations.
The statement read by Sherborne targeted Rebekah Brooks, now CEO of News Group, who was editor of the Sun when she was acquitted at a criminal trial in a phone hacking case.
“At her 2014 trial, Rebekah Brooks said, ‘When I was editor of the Sun, we ran a clean ship,'” he said. “Ten years later, when she was CEO of the company, they now admit that when she was editor of the Sun, they ran a criminal enterprise.”
NGN apologized for the wrongdoing of private investigators hired by The Sun, but not for the actions of its journalists.
Two files down, one to go
Of all the lawsuits filed against the publisher since a massive phone-hacking scandal forced Murdoch to shutter the News of the World in 2011, Harry’s case is the closest it has come to a trial.
Murdoch closed the paper after the Guardian reported that the tabloid’s journalists had hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old schoolgirl, in 2002 while police were searching for her.
Harry’s case against NGN was one of three he filed accusing British tabloids of violating his privacy by listening to phone messages or using private investigators to illegally help them obtain scoops.
His case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror ended in victory when the judge ruled that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at the newspaper and its sister publications.
During this trial in 2023, Harry became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court since the late 19th century, putting him at odds with the monarchy’s desire to keep its problems out of the spotlight. view.
The outcome of the News Group case raises questions about how its third case – against the publisher of the Daily Mail – will play out. That trial is scheduled for next year.
Source of a bitter quarrel
Harry’s feud with the press dates back to his youth, when the tabloids delighted in reporting everything from his injuries to his girlfriends to his drug use.
But his fury against the tabloids runs much deeper.
He blames the media for the death of his mother, killed in a car accident in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris. He also blames them for the persistent attacks against his wife, the actor Meghan Marklewhich led them to leave royal life and flee to the United States in 2020.
Princess Diana and Price Harry in 1995.
Photo: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images
The litigation has been a source of friction in his family, Harry said in the documentary. Tabloids on trial.
He revealed in court documents that his father objected to his trial. He also said his older brother William, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had settled a private claim against News Group that his lawyer said was worth more than a million pounds ($1.23 million).
“I’m doing this for my reasons,” Harry told the documentary makers, while adding that he wished his family would have joined him.
Harry and the other resistance fighters
Harry was originally one of dozens of plaintiffs, including actor Hugh Grant, who alleged that News Group journalists and investigators they hired violated their privacy between 1994 and 2016 by intercepting messages calls, tapping phones, bugging cars and using deception to gain access to confidential information.
Among the initial group of plaintiffs, Harry and former lawmaker Tom Watson were the holdouts set to go to trial.
FILE -Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the United Nations headquarters, July 18, 2022.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file
Watson, who was targeted by NGN while part of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing at a tabloid newspaper, said the intrusion had taken a heavy toll on himself and his family.
“I once said that the big beasts of the tabloid jungle have no predators,” Watson said. “I was wrong, they have Prince Harry. … We are grateful for his unwavering support and determination under extraordinary pressure.
Watson, who also received an apology and a substantial settlement, called on Murdoch to issue a personal apology to Harry, the king and the “countless others” affected by the tabloid intrusion.
News Group said the settlements mark the end of more than a decade of litigation following the closure of the News of the World.
NGN has now settled more than 1,300 claims without going to trial. In doing so, he spent more than 1 billion pounds ($1.24 billion) on compensation and legal costs, Harry and Watson said in their statement.