Prince Harry Receives Apology and Substantial Sum in Surprise Settlement With News Group Newspapers

Prince Harry Receives Apology and Substantial Sum in Surprise Settlement With News Group Newspapers

Prince Harry’s court case against News Group Newspapers was scheduled to take 10 weeks at trial and see multiple witnesses called over allegations of unlawful activities. However, it never even got going after the Prince’s lawyers this morning announced a surprise settlement, reading out a statement from NGN in London’s High Court.

“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,” Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said. “NGN also offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World.”

The statement went on to apologize for “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.” “We acknowledge and apologise 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 amount of damages was not disclosed, however it was reported by some outlets, including Reuters, that it was an eight-figure sum.

ADVERTISEMENT

There may be surprise that the Prince has settled as he had previously made it clear that he wanted to go all the way to court, telling DealBook last month that he was one of the last people who could afford to see the case through. However, it was clear from what his lawyer David Sherborne said outside the court that he was happy with the settlement and saw the outcome as a big win.

Sherborne stood before media and said that the outcome was a “monumental victory” for the Prince and the one other claimant, politician Lord Tom Watson. “In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices,” he began. Later, he added, “Today’s result has been achieved only through the transparent resilience of Prince Harry and Lord Watson, whose willingness to take NGN to trial has led directly to this historic admission of unlawfulness at The Sun. "It has only been by taking NGN - not just to the steps of court but inside the court room itself - that these Claimants have finally managed to extract this historic admission of guilt.

Sherborne also said that the Prince was now calling for police and Parliament to investigate. Today’s case was a civil case, not a criminal one. He did not answer a question by one journalist about the fact that there was no admission of liability by senior managers within NGN in the apology read out in court. The Prince had accused the newspaper group in earlier hearings of a cover-up by executives. NGN had previously said in a statement that the case would be “fully defended.”



You Might Also Like