According to attorneys for Prince Harry, Prince William settled a phone-hacking claim against Rupert Murdoch’s UK media business for a “very large sum” in 2020.
The Duke of Sussex, William’s brother, and actor Hugh Grant began a three-day hearing in London on Tuesday, at which time information about the settlement was made public.
Harry is bringing a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the owner of The Sun and the long-gone News Of The World, for allegedly gathering illegal information in its publications.
NGN contends that both claims have been submitted too late and is requesting that Mr. Justice Fancourt dismiss them both.
However, in response to the publisher’s request for a strikeout, Harry’s attorneys claimed that it is an effort to conceal a “secret agreement” between the royal family as a whole and NGN, which the duke was made aware of in 2012.
Harry’s attorney, David Sherborne, claimed in court filings that the late Queen participated in “discussions and authorization” of the arrangement, which stated that members of the royal family would delay bringing claims against NGN until the hacking lawsuit was resolved.
In written arguments, Mr. Sherborne said that the agreement “meant that the claimant could not at that time bring a claim against NGN for phone hacking.”
“It was agreed that at the conclusion of the Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation (MTVIL), News would admit or settle such a claim with an apology, directly between these parties, as opposed to their lawyers,” he continued.
“The claimant and the institution started to strive for the resolution of the pending claim in 2017.
However, News continued to stall on this matter until the claimant finally made his claim in 2019.
William “recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes,” according to Mr. Sherborne.
The court will decide whether or not the allegations will move forward to a trial, which is scheduled to be heard in January of the following year. The hearing is anticipated to last three days.
The lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of The Mail and Mail On Sunday, is one of many being brought by the duke, who personally appeared before the High Court last month for a preliminary hearing.
A trial over claims of publishing illegal material against tabloid publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), scheduled to start next month, is another instance where he is anticipated to testify. Harry is scheduled to appear in court in June.
