Prince Harry is suing News Group Newspapers over alleged unlawful information-gathering.
The Duke of Sussex claims his private information was unlawfully accessed by phone-hacking by two of NGN’s publications: The Sun and the now-extinct News Of The World.
This case is one of three major cases the dad-of-two has taken against tabloid newspapers for alleged unlawful information-gathering; the others concern the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail groups.
Take a look at the biggest bombshells from his claim against NGN:
Queen Elizabeth II ‘approved’ of taking legal action against NGN
Harry claimed his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II “approved” of him taking legal action against NGN.
In a witness statement, he alleged: “I remember speaking to my brother and saying something along the lines of ‘enough of this, I want to get permission to push for a resolution to our phone-hacking claims and a formal apology from Murdoch before any of his people are allowed anywhere near the wedding [to Meghan in 2018]’ or words to that effect.”
“I felt very angry about his newspapers’ appalling treatment of my wife and frustrated that nothing had been resolved on the phone-hacking front during the previous 12 months, and I thought (naively perhaps) that this might prove the perfect opportunity to air our grievances and force a resolution to our phone-hacking claims that had, up to that point, been denied to us on account of the secret agreement that had been reached between the institution and senior executives at NGN [News Group Newspapers] … and, of course, to force an apology from Murdoch.”
“William was very understanding and supportive and agreed that we needed to do it. He therefore suggested that I seek permission from ‘granny’.”
“I spoke to her shortly afterwards and said something along the lines of ‘are you happy for me to push this forward, do I have your permission?’ and she said ‘yes’…” Harry claimed.
“Unfortunately, despite … best efforts, both Robert Thomson and Rebekah Brooks [of News Corporation and News UK] continued to ignore our requests but then, shortly before the wedding, we were informed by Gerrard Tyrrell that nothing could be done as NGN were not in a position to apologise to Her Majesty the Queen and the rest of the royal family at that stage on account of the fact that, if they did so, they would have to admit that not only was the News of the World involved in phone hacking but also the Sun and that was something that they couldn’t afford to do until the end of the litigation because it would seriously undermine their settlement strategy across all the other claims.”
King Charles ‘tried to stop’ Harry taking legal action
During his witness statement, Harry claimed he was “summoned to Buckingham Palace” and told to drop the case, as it was affecting the Royal Family.
The Duke of Sussex claimed that Buckingham Palace struck a deal with News Group Newspapers that if the Royal Family put off legal claims, the group promised to one day settle out-of-court.
“The reason for this was to avoid the situation where a member of the Royal Family would have to sit in the witness box and recount the specific details of the private and highly-sensitive voicemails that had been intercepted,” documents claimed.
The dad-of-two alleged courtiers were “incredibly nervous” about a repeat of the damaging disclosure of an intimate phone call – referencing a phone call between his father and Camilla Parker-Bowles, which was published at the time when he was still married to Princess Diana.
Prince Harry claims William received ‘very large’ sum of money
In his witness statement, Harry claimed his brother Prince William received a “very large” sum of money from NGN.
He claimed: “Judging by Ms [Maxine] Mossman’s [a lawyer representing Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers] witness statement, my brother appeared to know an awful lot more than I did on the subject of phone hacking although he did not tell me if that was the case.”
“However, NGN still settled his claim for a huge sum of money in 2020 without subjecting him to a similar strike-out application, without any of the public being told, and seemingly with some favourable deal in return for him going ‘quietly’ so to speak.”
“This goes to prove the existence of this secret agreement between the institution and senior executives at NGN – if it wasn’t in place then why on earth did William wait until 2019 to bring his claim in circumstances where our two private secretaries brought and settled claims back in 2012, and where he knew far more about the matter back then than I did, and also why didn’t NGN test its limitation argument against him?”
Hugh Grant gives bombshell witness statement
Hugh Grant has also accused NGN of unlawful activities.
In his witness statement, the actor claimed: “My claim concerns unlawful acts committed by The Sun, including burglaries to order, the breaking and entering of private property in order to obtain private information through bugging, landline tapping, phone hacking and the use of private investigators to do all these and other illegal things against me.”
The 62-year-old referenced a statement to evidence he gave back in 2011 to the UK’s Leveson inquiry to British press standards and ethics.
At the time, he spoke about a break-in which occurred at his London Flat, and a story later appeared in The Sun which “detailed the interior”.
“I had no evidence that this burglary was carried out or commissioned on the instruction of the press, let alone The Sun,” Hugh said.
Hugh said he brought his new claim against NGN after he was given information by a private investigator which “showed, for the first time, evidence that The Sun had targeted unlawful activity at me and my associates directly”.
His statement alleged: “It was particularly shocking to learn that me and my associates, including members of my family who were not in any way in the public eye, had been targeted by The Sun during the Leveson inquiry.”
“It was widely reported and well-known at the time these private investigators were commissioned – in November 2011 – that I was shortly going to be giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry, which included NGN.”
“I found it astonishing that The Sun carried out these unlawful acts against me at a time when I was preparing to give evidence to a public inquiry on press ethics. Of course, all this was concealed from me at the time.”
An NGN spokesperson said: “The Sun strongly refutes the allegation that it ever commissioned anyone to break into Mr Grant’s home.”
Harry alleges Piers Morgan encouraged targeting of Princess Diana
Harry claimed Piers Morgan “knew about, encouraged and concealed” the alleged illegal targeting of his mother Diana while he was editor of the News of the World.
The Duke of Sussex claimed his late mother’s private messages and phone calls were obtained by NGN journalists, with information used in multiple stories in The Sun and News of the World.
Harry listed a number of these articles (which were written during Piers’ time as editor of News of the World during January 1994 and August 1995):
- ‘Di’s cranky phone calls to married Oliver; She called 3 times in 9 minutes and hung up as she heard Oliver’s voice’, – regarding Diana’s alleged relationship with Oliver Hoare.
- ‘Di’s roam alone’, – regarding Diana’s trip to the US on holiday leaving her sons with the Royal Family.
- ‘Di and Fergie bury the hatchet’, – regarding a private meeting between Diana and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
- ‘It’s Diana or me; Di: Will’s my dear friend – not my lover; Carling sneaked into palace when boys went out’, – regarding Diana’s alleged relationship with Will Carling.
- ‘Di’s VJ Day fury over Tiggy’, – regarding an alleged dispute between Diana and royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke.
Piers has always denied any direct knowledge of phone-hacking during his time at the publication.
