Prince Harry won a massive victory on Wednesday when Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids issued an unprecedented apology for decades of interference in his life and agreed to pay huge damages to settle his invasion of privacy lawsuit.
The News Group newspapers offered a “full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion carried out by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 in his private life,” Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, read from a statement in court.
Rather, the statement went beyond the scope of the case to acknowledge the 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 suffering the Duke has endured, and the damage to relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay him significant 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 sports, celebrity and sex editions – including topless women on page 3.
Harry pledged to take his case to trial to publicly expose the newspaper’s violations and win a court ruling that supports his claims.
FILE – News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch delivers a keynote speech at the National Education Reform Summit in San Francisco, October 14, 2011.
AFP Photo/Noah Berger, file
In a statement read by his lawyer, Harry claimed to have achieved the accountability he sought for himself and hundreds of others, including ordinary people who were trolled.
The News Group admitted to “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators” targeting Harry. NGN vigorously denied these allegations before the trial.
“This represents vindication for hundreds of other claimants who have had to settle without being able to get to the bottom of what happened to them,” Sherborne said outside the High Court in London.
Alleged irregularities at the top
The surprise announcement came after the start of the trial was postponed for a day as last-minute settlement talks raged outside court.
Harry, 40, the youngest son of King Charles III, and Tom Watson, a former Labor MP, were the only remaining plaintiffs among more than 1,300 others who settled lawsuits against News Group newspapers over allegations their phones were hacked. The investigators illegally interfered in their lives.
Harry and Watson said in a joint statement read by Sherburne that the company engaged in “perjury and cover-up” to hide the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other records.
“There was a widespread conspiracy in which senior executives deliberately obstructed justice,” the statement said.
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The news group said in a statement that it would have objected during the trial that evidence had been destroyed, and that it continues to deny the allegations.
While the News Group issued an unreserved apology for its mistakes at the shuttered News of the World, it never did so at The Sun and strongly denied the allegations.
The statement read by Sherborne targeted Rebecca Brooks, who is currently chief executive overseeing News Group, and who was editor-in-chief of The Sun when she was acquitted in a criminal trial in the phone hacking case.
He said: “At her trial in 2014, Rebecca Brooks said: ‘When I was editor of The Sun, we ran a clean ship.'” Ten years later, when she became chief executive of the company, they now admit, when she was editor of The Sun, that they “They were running a criminal enterprise.”
NGN apologized for errors made by private parties hired by The Sun, but not for anything done by its own journalists.
Two cases down, one to go
Of all the cases brought against the publisher since a widespread phone hacking scandal forced Murdoch to close the News of the World in 2011, Harry’s case was the closest to going to trial.
Murdoch closed the newspaper after The Guardian reported that the tabloid’s reporters in 2002 hacked the phone of Millie Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old schoolgirl, while police were searching for her.
Harry’s case against NGN was one of three he brought accusing British tabloids of violating his privacy by eavesdropping on phone messages or hiring private investigators to help them illegally achieve scoops.
His case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror ended in victory when the judge ruled that phone-hacking was “pervasive and customary” at the newspaper and its sister publications.
During that 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 his problems out of public view.
The outcome of the newsgroup case raises questions about how he will proceed in his third case – against the publisher of the Daily Mail. That trial is scheduled for next year.
A source of bitter disagreement
Harry’s feud with the press goes back to his youth, when tabloids were happy to cover everything from his injuries to his girlfriends to his drug use.
But his anger at the tabloids goes much deeper than that.
He blames the media for the death of his mother, who was killed in a car accident in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi in Paris. He also blames them for the ongoing attacks on his wife, actress Meghan Markle, which prompted them to leave royal life and flee to the United States in 2020.
Princess Diana and Bryce Harry in 1995.
Image: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images
Harry said in the documentary that the lawsuit was a source of friction in his family Tabloids are on trial.
He revealed in court papers that his father opposed his lawsuit. He also said that his older brother William, the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had settled a private complaint against News Group that his lawyer said was worth more than 1 million pounds ($1.23 million).
“I’m doing this for my own reasons,” Harry told the documentary makers, although he said he wished his family would join him.
Harry and the other refuser
Harry was originally one of dozens of claimants, including actor Hugh Grant, who claimed that News Group journalists and investigators who hired them violated their privacy between 1994 and 2016 by intercepting voicemails, tapping phones, eavesdropping on cars and using deception to gain access. tip.
Among the original group of claimants, Harry and former lawmaker Tom Watson were holdouts.
FILE – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the United Nations Headquarters on July 18, 2022.
AP Photo/Seth Wing, file
Watson, who was targeted by NGN when he was part of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the tabloids, said the hack had taken a huge toll on him and his family.
“I once said that the big beasts in the tabloid jungle have no predators,” Watson said. “I was wrong, they have Prince Harry. … We are grateful to him for his unwavering support and determination under extraordinary pressure.
Watson, who also received an apology and a large settlement, called on Murdoch to issue a personal apology to Harry, the royal and “countless others” affected by the tabloids’ 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 newspaper.
NGN has now settled more than 1,300 claims without going to trial. Harry and Watson said in their statement that the company had spent more than one billion pounds ($1.24 billion) in payments and legal costs.
