‘Monumental victory’: U.K. tabloids apologize to Prince Harry and admit intruding on the late Diana

Prince Harry leaves the High Court after giving evidence in London, Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

LONDON, United Kingdom — Prince Harry claimed a monumental victory Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids made an unprecedented apology for intruding in his life over decades and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit.

News Group Newspapers offered 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,” Harry’s attorney, David Sherborne, read from a statement in court.

The statement even went beyond the scope of the case to acknowledge intruding on 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 has acknowledged wrongdoing at The Sun, a paper that once sold millions of copies with its formula of sports, celebrities and sex — including topless women on Page 3.

Harry had vowed to take his case to trial to publicly expose the newspaper’s wrongdoing and win a court ruling upholding his claims.

In a statement read by his lawyer, Harry claimed he achieved the accountability he sought for himself and hundreds of others, including ordinary people, who were snooped on.

News Group acknowledged “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators” aimed at Harry. NGN had strongly denied those allegations before trial.

“This represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong-armed into settling without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them,” Sherborne said outside the High Court in London.

Wrongdoing alleged at the top

The bombshell announcement came after the trial’s start was postponed a day as last-minute settlement talks heated up outside court.

Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, and Tom Watson, a former Labour Party member of Parliament, were the only two remaining claimants out of more than 1,300 others who had settled lawsuits against News Group Newspapers over allegations their phones were hacked and investigators unlawfully intruded in their lives.

The company engaged in “perjury and cover-ups” to obscure the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other records, Harry and Watson said in a joint statement read by Sherborne.

“There was an extensive conspiracy,” the statement said, in which “senior executives deliberately obstructed justice.”

News Group said in a statement that it would have disputed at trial that evidence was destroyed and it continues to deny those allegations.

While News Group had issued an unreserved apology for its wrongdoing at the shuttered News of the World, it had never done so at The Sun and had vehemently denied those allegations.

The statement read by Sherborne took aim at Rebekah Brooks, now the CEO overseeing News Group, who had been the editor at The Sun when she was acquitted at a criminal trial in a phone hacking case.

“At her trial in 2014, Rebekah Brooks said, ‘When I was editor of The Sun, we ran a clean ship,’” he said. ”Ten years later when she is CEO of the company, they now admit, when she was editor of The Sun, they ran a criminal enterprise."

NGN apologized for wrongdoing by private eyes hired by The Sun, but not for anything done by its journalists.

Two cases down, one to go

In all the cases that have been brought against the publisher since a widespread phone hacking scandal forced Murdoch to close News of the World in 2011, Harry’s case got the closest to trial.

Murdoch closed the paper after the Guardian reported that the tabloid’s reporters had in 2002 hacked the phone of Milly 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 using private investigators to unlawfully help them score 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 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 its problems out of view.

The outcome in the News Group case raises questions about how his third case — against the publisher of the Daily Mail — will proceed. That trial is scheduled next year.

Source of a bitter feud

Harry’s feud with the press dates back to his youth, when the tabloids took glee in reporting on everything from his injuries to his girlfriends to dabbling with drugs.

But his fury with the tabloids goes much deeper.

He blames the media for the death of his mother, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi in Paris. He also blames them for the persistent attacks on his wife, actor Meghan Markle, that led them to leave royal life and flee to the U.S. in 2020.

The litigation has been a source of friction in his family, Harry said in the documentary “Tabloids On Trial.”

He revealed in court papers that his father opposed his lawsuit. He also said his older brother William, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had settled a private complaint against News Group that his lawyer has said was worth over 1 million pounds (US$1.23 million).

“I’m doing this for my reasons,” Harry told the documentary makers, though he said he wished his family had joined him.

Harry and the other holdout

Harry was originally one among dozens of claimants, including actor Hugh Grant, who alleged that News Group journalists and investigators they hired violated their privacy between 1994 and 2016 by intercepting voicemails, tapping phones, bugging cars and using deception to access confidential information.

Of the original group of claimants, Harry and former lawmaker Tom Watson were the holdouts headed to trial.

Watson, who was targeted by NGN when he was part of an investigation into allegations of tabloid wrongdoing, 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 to him for his unwavering support and his determination under extraordinary pressure.”

Watson, who also received an apology and substantial settlement, called on Murdoch to issue a personal apology to Harry, the king and “countless others” affected by tabloid intrusion.

News Group said the settlements mark the end to more than a decade of litigation after the News of the World was shuttered.

NGN has now settled more than 1,300 claims without going to trial. In doing so, it has spent more than 1 billion pounds ($1.24 billion) in payouts and legal costs, Harry and Watson said in their statement.

Brian Melley, The Associated Press