Prince Harry has dragged his brother into his war against the British press by claiming that the future king has ‘quietly’ settled a phone hacking claim for a ‘very large sum’.
The Duke of Sussex claimed Prince William received the payout as part of a ‘secret agreement’ – and accused the Queen of being involved in the deal.
He received the money “behind the scenes” in 2020 from News Group Newspapers (NGN), publishers of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, it is alleged.
It came to light as part of Prince Harry’s battle against NGN with actor Hugh Grant suing the group for allegedly unlawful information gathering at the titles.
Today, the newspaper group urged Mr Justice Fancourt to dismiss both claims in the Supreme Court, arguing that they were submitted too late.
Prince Harry has dragged his brother (pictured together) into his war against the British press by claiming the future king ‘quietly’ settled a phone hacking claim for a ‘very large sum’
The Duke of Sussex claimed Prince William (pictured with Kate) received the payout as part of a ‘secret agreement’
However, David Sherborne, representing Harry, said the ‘secret agreement’ meant that ‘at that time the plaintiff could not bring a claim against NGN for phone hacking’.
He said the Queen was personally involved in the “discussions and authorization” of this deal.
Prince Harry, who was watching via video link, submitted a 31-page testimonial revealing his brother’s payout “to prove the existence of this secret agreement.”
The deal would have resulted in the royal family agreeing not to sue NGN until after the newspaper group’s lawsuit with other hacking plaintiffs has concluded, after which the royals’ claims would be quietly “admitted or settled with an apology.”
But Anthony Hudson KC, on behalf of NGN, said the publisher’s position was that “there was no such secret agreement.”
He said that while communications indicate that “discussions were taking place between the Palace and NGN,” they “do not provide any support for the suggestion that there was an agreement whereby NGN would waive its right to file a restraining order in response on claims of members of the Royal family’.
Prince Harry claimed the deal was made to “avoid the situation” where Royals would have to “sit on the witness stand and tell the specific details” from private voicemails.
He said his family was “incredibly nervous about this and wanted to avoid it at all costs” following the damaging Tampongate telephone call intercepted in 1989 between King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Prince Harry representatives said the Queen was personally involved in the “discussions and approval” of the deal
The Duke of Sussex said he and his brother were made aware of the “secret agreement” in 2012, which prevented them from making any claims.
But he became frustrated when things had still not been arranged in 2018 when he and Meghan Markle had their wedding, to which “the main culprits of this abuse” would be invited.
He said: “I remember talking to my brother and saying something along the lines of, ‘Enough about this, I want permission to push for a resolution to our phone hack claims and a formal apology from Murdoch for one of his people . are allowed anywhere near the wedding”.’
Prince Harry said William was “very understanding and supportive” and suggested he “get grandma’s permission.”
The Duke of Sussex said, “I spoke to her shortly afterwards and said something along the lines of, ‘Are you glad I’m pushing this forward, do I have your permission?” and she said “yes”.’
He claimed the Queen had given the ‘green light’ to her communications director, Sally Osman, to urge NGN executives to ‘bring about a resolution and an apology from Mr Murdoch’.
But Prince Harry claimed he was “frustrated” when there was an “extension of the secret agreement” at the time, as NGN was not ready in time to apologize for the wedding.
Finally, in 2019, he decided to “break with royal tradition and direct my own lawyer to initiate a phone hacking proceeding against NGN.”
Prince Harry claimed he was ‘frustrated’ when there was an ‘extension of the secret agreement’ at the time as NGN was not ready in time to apologize for his marriage to Meghan
But after doing so, “he was summoned to Buckingham Palace and specifically told to drop the legal action because they ‘affect the whole family.’
He claimed this was “a direct request, or rather a demand, from my father” and senior royal staff.
Prince Harry then compared his treatment to that of his brother, who he said had “settled his claim for a huge sum of money in 2020” without NGN subjecting him “to a similar deletion request, without anyone from the public was briefed, and seemingly with a favorable deal in return for ‘going quietly’ so to speak.
He said, “This proves the existence of this secret agreement between the institution and senior executives at NGN.”
Lord Grabiner KC, the former independent chair of the management and standards committee set up by News Corp to investigate allegations of phone hacking, denied knowing anything about a secret deal between executives and the royal family.
“I can affirm with great confidence that no such agreement has ever been mentioned to me or otherwise brought to my attention,” he said in a witness statement.
“I am also not aware of any agreement whereby NGN waived its right to defend against statute of limitations in claims filed by members of the royal family.”
Harry is fighting three separate legal battles against three media groups, all of the alleged illegal activity being used to attack him in the name of journalism.
Last month, he showed up in person for his case against the publisher of the Daily Mail, and a judge is considering whether that case should be given a full trial.
Kensington Palace declined to comment on behalf of the Prince of Wales.