LONDON — Prince Harry’s lawsuit against The Sun concluded dramatically on Wednesday with an apology from the newspaper’s publisher for “serious intrusion” and illegal activities over a 15-year period.
The settlement, which includes a “substantial” damages award for Harry, is the latest dramatic twist in two decades of legal drama over the ruthless practices of the British press in the days when newspapers sold millions of copies and shaped the popular conversation.
The scandal destroyed a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch and cost the tycoon hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits from former tabloids. It also fueled Harry’s quest to tame the British press, which he blames for dividing his family, tarnishing his life and harassing both his late mother, Princess Diana, and his wife, Meghan Markle.
Below is a chronology of the legal dispute:
November 2005: Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid News of the World reports that Prince William has a knee injury. A complaint from Buckingham Palace sparks a police investigation which reveals that information for the story came from a voicemail that was tapped.
January 2007: Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who worked for the News of the World, is sentenced to six months in prison and the newspaper’s editor, Clive Goodman, to four months for tapping royal advisers’ phones to listen to messages left by William and others. Goodman later admits to hacking William’s phone 35 times and that of his then-girlfriend Kate Middleton—now Princess of Wales—more than 150 times.
Murdoch’s company initially maintains that the illicit behavior was the work of two rogue employees who acted without the editors’ knowledge.
January 2011: British police are reopening an investigation into phone hacking by tabloids after the News of the World says it has found “significant new information”.
April 2011: News of the World admits responsibility for phone hacking. The following month, he agrees to pay actress Sienna Miller £100,000 to settle an espionage claim. Murdoch’s News Corp. has since paid to settle claims by dozens of celebrities, politicians, athletes and others against News of the World and its sister tabloid, The Sun, although it has never accepted responsibility for the hack by The Sun.
July 2011: The Guardian newspaper reports that News of the World journalists tapped the phone of Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old schoolgirl, while police were searching for her in 2002. The revelation causes public outrage and prompts Murdoch to close the News of the World. , 168 years old.
November 2012: A media ethics inquiry led by a judge and ordered by then-Prime Minister David Cameron concludes that the “scandalous” behavior of some in the press had “wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent people whose rights and freedoms have been disregarded.” . Judge Brian Leveson recommends the creation of a strong press watchdog, backed by government regulation. Their findings have been partially implemented.
October 2013: Former News of the World editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks are on trial alongside several other defendants at London’s Central Criminal Court on charges of phone hacking and illegal payments to officials. After an eight-month trial, Coulson is convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Brooks is acquitted. She is now chief executive of Murdoch’s British newspaper business.
December 2015: England’s attorney general says there will be no further criminal cases against Murdoch’s UK company or its employees, or against 10 people under investigation by rival Mirror Group Newspapers, including former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan. Both companies continue to pay to settle espionage lawsuits.
2019 onwards: Prince Harry launches lawsuits against three newspaper groups: Murdoch’s News Group, Mirror Group and Associated Newspapers. He alleges that stories about his student years, teenage antics, and relationships with girlfriends were obtained through wiretapping, wiretapping, deception, and other forms of illegal intrusion.
February 2021: Harry’s wife, Meghan, wins an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers over the publication of a 2018 letter she wrote to her father.
June 2023: Harry testifies in his case against the Mirror Group, becoming the first British royal in over a century to appear in the witness box.
December 2023: Enrique wins his case against the Mirror Group when a judge rules that the Mirror newspapers had hired private investigators to snoop on personal information and engaged in illegal phone hacking for more than a decade. He is awarded legal costs and £140,000 in damages.
February 2024: Mirror Group agrees to pay Enrique’s legal costs and undisclosed damages to resolve outstanding claims. Enrique says he feels vindicated and promises: “Our mission continues.”
January 21, 2025: The trial is about to begin in the lawsuits by Enrique and former Labor Party lawmaker Tom Watson against The Sun. They are the only two remaining among dozens of plaintiffs after others accepted legal settlements rather than face potentially ruinous legal bills. The trial is delayed as attorneys for both sides say they have been conducting intense negotiations over a settlement.
January 22, 2025: Both parties announce agreement, News Group Newspapers offers “a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for The Sun’s serious intrusion between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of illegal activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.”
Enrique’s lawyer, David Sherborne, calls it a “monumental victory” and declares: “The time for reckoning has come.”
Enrique’s case against Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail, is ongoing.