Prince Harry claimed a "monumental" victory over Rupert Murdoch's United Kingdom newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher settled his lawsuit, admitting unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time and paying substantial damages.
Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, had been suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, at the High Court in London, alleging the papers had illegally obtained private information about him from 1996 till 2011.
NGN also admitted it had intruded into the private life of Harry's late mother, Princess Diana.
"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," 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," said the statement, read by their lawyer, David Sherborne, outside the High Court.
The trial to consider Harry's case, and a similar lawsuit from former senior British lawmaker Watson, had been due to start on Tuesday (local time) but following last-gasp talks, the two sides reached a settlement, with NGN saying there had been wrongdoing at The Sun — something it had 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 incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun," Sherborne told the court.
"NGN further apologises 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," he said.
Prince Harry's lawyer, David Sherborne, delivers a statement outside the High Court in London. Source: EPA / Andy Rain
In a statement, an NGN spokesperson said its apology was for the unlawful actions of private investigators working for The Sun, not of its journalists.
"There are strong controls and processes in place at all our titles today to ensure this cannot happen now. There was no voicemail interception on The Sun," the spokesperson said, adding that the settlement marked the likely end of any lawsuits and that future cases were liable to be thrown out.
NGN previously always rejected any claims that there was wrongdoing at The Sun newspaper or that any senior figures knew about it or tried to cover it up, as Harry's lawsuit alleged.
However, NGN's apology made no direct reference to any wrongdoing by its senior figures, nor to the allegation that there had been any cover-ups by current or former executives.
Speaking outside court, Watson said Murdoch should apologise to Harry and Charles.
There was no comment from Buckingham Palace nor the office of Prince William, Harry's elder brother who himself quietly settled a case against NGN in 2020 for a "very large sum", according to Harry's legal team.
