Prince Harry Settles Case Against Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. Tabloids as News Group Newspapers Offers ‘Full and Unequivocal Apology’

variety.com:

Alex Ritman Prince Harry has settled his historic case against Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids. Having previously said he wanted to see his case into phone hacking and unlawful information gathering go to trial, the royal has now reached a settlement before an argument was even made in London’s High Court.

In a last minute deal made the day after the trial was due to start, Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers has agreed to pay “substantial damages” to Prince Harry and issued an apology, read by his lawyer David Sherborne, of the “serious intrusion by The Sun into his private life … including the unlawful gathering” of information on him.

NGN also apologized for phone hacking, and the impact this had on Harry, his friend and relationships, and the impact of the “extensive coverage and serious intrusion on his private life,” including the coverage of his late mother Princess Diana.

The royal’s lawsuit against NGN concerned alleged activities carried out by both journalists and private investigators working for The Sun and the now-defunct The News of the World from 1996 until 2011.