British Tabs Settle With Harry, Say Sorry, Will Pay Up

News Group offers 'full and unequivocal apology' for privacy violations
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 22, 2025 5:26 AM CST
UK Tabloids Settle With Prince Harry Just Before Trial
Prince Harry leaves the High Court after giving evidence in London, Wednesday, June 7, 2023.   (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloids made a rare apology to Prince Harry in settling his privacy invasion lawsuit and will pay him a substantial sum, his lawyer said Wednesday, per the AP. Harry's lawyer David Sherborne read a statement in court saying News Group offers a "full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex" for years of unlawful intrusion. The bombshell announcement in London's High Court came as the Duke of Sussex's trial was about to start against the publishers of the Sun and now-defunct News of the World for unlawfully snooping on him over decades.

Harry, 40, and one other man 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. 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.

(More Prince Harry stories.)

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