Prince Harry has settled a legal case against the publisher of the Sun over claims of unlawful intrusion into his life after it agreed to pay “substantial damages” and offer an “unequivocal apology”.
The Duke of Sussex alleged journalists and private investigators working for News Group Newspapers (NGN) used unlawful techniques to pry on his private life – and executives then allegedly covered it up.
NGN apologised for “serious intrusion” by the Sun between 1996 and 2011, and admitted “incidents of unlawful activity” were carried out by private investigators working for the newspaper, in a statement read out in court.
It also apologised for distress it caused Harry through the “extensive coverage” and “serious intrusion” into the private life of his late mother, Princess Diana.It agreed to pay “substantial damages”, without disclosing how much this would be.
The settlement was announced after barrister David Sherborne, representing Harry, asked the judge to delay the start of the High Court trial on Tuesday.
It emerged that the two sides were involved in potential settlement talks to end the case before it went to trial.
When he launched his claim, Prince Harry alleged that more than 200 articles published by NGN between 1996 and 2011 contained information gathered by illegal means.
He repeatedly said he wanted the case to go to trial so that he could get “accountability” for other alleged victims of unlawful newsgathering of private information by NGN journalists.
A source told the BBC that NGN was “surprised by the serious approach by Prince Harry for settlement in recent days”.
Labour’s former deputy leader Lord Tom Watson was a second complainant in the case.
He said his phone was targeted around the time he was investigating newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch while an MP, at the height of the scandal almost 15 years ago.
NGN also issued an apology to Lord Watson for intrusion into his private life by those working for the News of the World.
“This includes him being placed under surveillance in 2009 by journalists at the News of the World and those instructed by them,” the court statement said, adding he would also be given substantial damages.
NGN has apologised for unlawful practices at the now-defunct News of the World, but previously denied similar claims against The Sun – as well as Prince Harry’s wider allegation of a corporate-wide cover-up.
Harry, who was 12 when his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel while being followed by paparazzi, has filed other legal cases against British tabloids.
He settled a case last year against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) alleging the publishers had gathered information on him in unlawful ways from 1996 to 2010. MGN had to cover all of the duke’s legal costs, and more than £300,000 in damages.