It is a small sensation that came out in a court case of British Prince Harry. His brother and future king Prince William is said to have received a “very large sum” in damages because his phone was tapped. For this he waived public proceedings against a media company. The basis for this is said to be an almost 30-year-old secret agreement between the royal family.
This appears to emerge from court documents available to several British media outlets. Prince Harry is suing Rupert Murdoch-owned media company News Group Newspapers (NGN). According to the lawsuit, Prince William was able to prevent a similar process in 2020 by receiving undisclosed damages from the publishers of “News of the World” and “The Sun”. Now Harry seems to be aiming for a similar arrangement.
With the blessing of Queen Elizabeth, who was still alive at the time, Harry apparently also turned to the Murdoch company. As with his brother, it is about a hack of phones by employees of the publishing house. News of the World reporter Clive Goodman managed to gain access to the princes’ mailbox systems. This enabled him to gain private and sometimes highly sensitive insights into the lives of the princes. In addition, Harry accuses the newspapers of having obtained private information from his life in other ways.
In his lawsuit, the prince refers to a “secret deal” that the royal family is said to have concluded with the media company back in the 1990s. Accordingly, the royals can turn to the newspapers and demand compensation for selected parts of the reporting and a later apology – and forgo a regular lawsuit. According to him, the newspaper complied with his brother’s request, but in his case they did not honor the deal.
According to the documents, the secret agreement dates back to the case known as “Tampongate”. At the time, reporters managed to obtain a recording of a highly intimate conversation between now-King Charles and his second wife, Camila. As part of a trial in 1993, the then prince gave testimony. The fact that Charles, who was still married to Princess Diana, the mother of William and Harry, also had to testify about slippery details of the recording, caused a lot of excitement in the palace. In order to prevent such embarrassment in the future, the agreement with the media, which had been kept secret until then, was finally reached, according to Harry’s complaint.
According to the prince, he, like his brother, turned to the Murdoch Group in 2017. Several meetings with the British boss were unsuccessful. The lawsuit argues that the company did not keep its end of the deal. The BBC writes that the prince did not choose legal action earlier because the agreements had delayed this option.
The media society, however, fundamentally contradicts the representation of the prince. A spokesman for the company told the Guardian that there had never been such a secret agreement. Many of the allegations made by Harry date back as far as 20 years. “The Sun does not accept any responsibility and does not admit to any of the allegations,” the spokesman said.
For both the prince and the media house, these are not the only procedures. In addition to NGN, Harry is currently also suing the “Daily Mail” and the “Daily Mirror” for similar allegations. The Murdoch empire, on the other hand, was only able to settle a lawsuit by Dominion last week. The manufacturer had demanded more than a billion dollars in damages because numerous moderators of the Murdoch broadcaster “Fox News” had accused the manufacturer of voting machines of manipulation in the last US presidential election without being able to prove it. In the end, an out-of-court settlement was reached: “Fox News” ultimately paid $787.5 million.
If Harry were successful, it wouldn’t cost the company so dearly. According to the “Guardian”, he only asks for a fraction of this amount at £200,000 (about 225,000 euros). The prince is all about principle. “Crime should not pay off,” the lawsuit reads. The trial is expected early next year.
Sources: Guardian, BBC
