Prince Harry has just won a major settlement in the legal battle for his privacy.
After launching three lawsuits against newspaper publishers in 2019 for illegally obtaining information about his life, the prince’s suit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (the publisher of The Sun) was settled early this morning before the trial officially started. The newspaper published a “full and unequivocal apology” to the royal.
As noted by People, this is the first time the publisher has ever openly admitted to wrongdoings committed by its subsidiary. They even called out the “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information” by journalists and private investigators who were hired by the now-defunct News of the World to pry into Harry’s life, deeming it to be “unlawful.”
Along with the apology, the publisher promised to pay “substantial damages” to settle the lawsuit, in a statement that read: “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.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time a royal family member has been the victim of unethical journalistic tactics, as Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was often subject to it as well. The late princess was even called out by name in the publisher’s statement, which 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 the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, in particular during his younger years.”
For quite some time now, the Duke of Sussex and his wife, Duchess Meghan, have been battling tabloids that committed nefarious invasions of privacy.
Back in 2021, Meghan won a lawsuit against the Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, after the outlet shared a private letter she had written to her father. Then, in early 2024, Harry settled his case against the Mirror Group, after it was found that the publisher had hired private investigators to hack into the royal’s phone for over a decade.
According to the report from People, it is believed that Harry will receive damages from NGN in the form of an eight-figure sum.
