Britain's Prince William settled a phone-hacking claim against Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm for a “very large sum” after a secret deal struck with Buckingham Palace, lawyers for the heir's brother Prince Harry said in court documents.
The Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles, is suing Murdoch's News Group Newspapers at the High Court in London for multiple unlawful acts allegedly committed on behalf of its tabloids, the Sun and defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.
During three days of preliminary hearings this week, NGN, which has paid out millions to settle more than 1,000 phone-hacking cases, is seeking to stop claims by Prince Harry and British actor Hugh Grant, arguing they should have acted sooner.
It also denies anyone from the Sun was involved in unlawful activity.
Prince Harry's lawyers said the publisher's application went against a “secret agreement” between the royal family and NGN, which the Duke of Sussex was informed of in 2012.
In court documents, David Sherborne, representing Prince Harry, said the late Queen Elizabeth II was involved in the “discussion and authorisation” of the agreement. It said that members of the royal family would not pursue claims against NGN until after the conclusion of litigation over hacking.
Mr Sherborne said in written arguments that the agreement “meant that the claimant could not bring a claim against NGN for phone hacking at that time”.
“It was agreed that … News would admit or settle such a claim with an apology” at the end of the phone hacking case, he added.
“In 2017, the claimant and the institution began to push for the outstanding claim to be resolved,” he said.
“However, News filibustered in relation to this until, in 2019, the claimant had enough and issued his claim.”
Mr Sherborne said Prince William “recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes”.
