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

CTV News royal commentator Afua Hagan says the payout to Prince Harry could be from CAD$17-35 million.

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

News Group Newspapers acknowledged its private investigators and journalists targeted Harry with phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information. The company offered him a “full and unequivocal apology” for intrusion by the now-defunct News of the World and its sister tabloid The Sun.

The statement, read out at the High Court in London by Harry’s attorney David Sherborne, 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.

News Group has long acknowledged that phones were hacked by staff at the News of the World, the weekly newspaper that Murdoch shut down in 2011 amid a public outcry over tabloid snooping. But this is the first time the company accepted 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, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, had vowed to take his case to trial to publicly expose The Sun’s misdeeds and win a court ruling upholding his claims. He 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.

The trial was due to start Tuesday, but was postponed amid last-minute negotiations that led to the dramatic settlement announcement.

Although the settlement means Harry will not get his day in court, his lawyer said it delivered the accountability he sought for himself and hundreds of others who were snooped on with intercepted voicemails, tapped phones, bugged cars and various forms of deception.

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 court.

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 ($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.

Watson, who was targeted by NGN when he was part of an investigation into allegations of tabloid wrongdoing, also 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. ΓǪ 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 Newspapers said the settlement “draws a line under the past” and ends more than a decade of litigation.

The company 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’s attorney said the company still had questions to answer. Sherborne said the company engaged in “perjury and cover-ups” to obscure the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other records.

“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.

Sherborne took aim at former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks, now the CEO overseeing News Group, who was acquitted of phone hacking a decade ago.

“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, adding: “There was no voicemail interception on The Sun.”

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.