Prince Harry Agrees to Settlement as Murdoch’s U.K. Tabloids Offer Full Apology

Prince Harry’s lawyer announced on Wednesday that he had reached a settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers over accusations of unlawful information gathering — an abrupt end to a case that Harry had cast as a last chance to hold the tabloids to account for years of predatory behavior.

News Group Newspapers offered Harry “a full and unequivocal apology” for hacking his cellphone and intruding into his personal life, and acknowledged “unlawful” conduct by private investigators hired by one of the tabloids, The Sun. It was the first time News Group has admitted wrongdoing involving that paper.

The company also apologized for past intrusions by its journalists into the private life of Harry’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by photographers.

In its statement, News Group apologized to Harry for “the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life as well as the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, in particular during his younger years.”

It added: “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,” referring to Harry by his alternative title, the Duke of Sussex.

The settlement, announced the day after the long-awaited trial was scheduled to begin, spared News Group Newspapers from weeks of damaging testimony about phone hacking and other unlawful methods it used more than a decade ago to ferret out information about Harry and other prominent figures.