Prince William 'given very large secret phone hacking payout by Rupert Murdoch's media company'
25 April 2023, 11:57 | Updated: 25 April 2023, 12:31
Prince William was given a secret payout by Rupert Murdoch's media business to settle a phone-hacking claim, court filings show.
William was given the sum in 2020 following a legal claim made against the owner of the Sun and the News of the World.
The news emerged in legal documents submitted by Prince Harry, who is fighting his own legal battle with News UK, the Guardian reported.
No details are given on the nature of the alleged hack of William that Harry refers to, and it is unclear if it relates to the Sun or the News of the World.
Prince Harry claimed that there was a secret agreement struck between the royal family and the publisher in 2012, under which the royals would delay seeking damages for phone hacking in return for getting an apology.
The prince said this was because the royal family did not want a repeat of the situation where details of sensitive voicemail messages between then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles emerged in 1980.
Harry's legal filings claim: "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 by [the News of the World royal reporter] Clive Goodman.
"The institution was incredibly nervous about this and wanted to avoid at all costs the sort of reputational damage that it had suffered in 1993 when the Sun and another tabloid had unlawfully obtained and published details of an intimate telephone conversation that took place between my father and stepmother in 1989, while he was still married to my mother.”
Harry claims News UK did not keep to their side of the bargain when he asked for an apology in 2017. That is the reason for Harry launching his legal action against the company.
News UK has admitted phone hacking took place at the now-defunct News of the World, but has always denied it took place at the Sun.
A spokesperson said: "The Sun does not accept liability or make any admissions to the allegation.
"As we reach the tail end of litigation, [the company] is drawing a line under disputed matters, some of which date back more than 20 years ago."
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It has long been known that Prince William and Harry had been the victims of phone hacking, after News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman was found guilty in 2007.
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Prince Harry's lawyers claimed News UK had engaged in “years of deliberate concealment, destruction of evidence, cover-up at the highest level and false denials even given under oath”.
They said: “The invasion of his personal conversations and relationships caused distress, as his privacy was constantly violated and his safety jeopardised.
The lawyers said that Harry was "appalled by the tactics used by journalists to interfere with and ruin his relationships, and feels sick knowing that these actions were conducted unlawfully.”
They added that Harry was bringing the case because “crime should not be allowed to pay”.
Prince Harry is currently fighting three separate legal battles against three major publishers: Associated Newspapers, of the Daily Mail, News UK, of the Sun, and Reach, which publishes the Mirror.
He showed up in person for the start of a legal hearing against Associated Newspapers, and is set to break royal protocol by giving evidence in the trial against the publisher of the Mirror.
