Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have won their privacy battle against a news agency in Los Angeles.
Back in July, the couple launched legal action after they claimed an individual used a drone to photograph their son Archie in their back garden.
The family-of-three had been living at Tyler Perry’s $18 million mansion in Beverly Hills at the time.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex filed the lawsuit after they found out someone was shopping photographs of their young son, falsely claiming to have taken them on a “recent” public outing “in Malibu”.
In the suit, the couple argued that Archie has not been in public, let alone in Malibu, since they arrived in California back in March.
Because of this, Harry and Meghan believed the photos were taken with a drone “in the backyard” of their residence, without their knowledge.
After filing the lawsuit, their attorney Michael Kump was granted an application to serve subpoenas on three LA photo agencies that could be handling the pictures – including Splash, Backgrid and X17.
On Thursday, Mr Kump said the agency responsible, X17, had apologised and agreed to pay a portion of their legal fees.
According to MailOnline, the agency also agreed to turn over the photos, destroy any copies in its archives, and never again sell photos of Harry and Meghan taken by drone, zoom or telephoto lenses “in any private residence or the surrounding private grounds”.
In a statement, X17 said: “We apologise to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son for the distress we have caused. We were wrong to offer these photographs and commit to not doing so again.”
Meghan and Harry’s lawyer said: “Over the summer, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took action against intrusive and illegal paparazzi photos taken of their family at a private residence.”
“Today, the agency responsible for those photos – X17 – apologised and agreed to a permanent injunction and reimbursement of a portion of legal fees.”
“This is a successful outcome. All families have a right, protected by law, to feel safe and secure at home.”
Since the drone pictures were taken, the Sussexes have moved to a new house in Santa Barbara – which they purchased in June.
On this week’s episode of #GossChats, Goss.ie Founder Alexandra Ryan chats to Jackie Fox – who lost her daughter Nicole to suicide after being cyber bullied.
Jackie talks about her fight to get Coco’s Law brought into legislation in Ireland – a new law that will make online bullying a criminal offence.
WARNING – episode contains discussion about self-harming and suicide. If this interview affects you in any way please contact Pieta House.
Please free call the Pieta House 24-hour helpline on 1800 247 247. You can also contact the helpline by text – text HELP to 51444.
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