Prince Harry’s war against the British tabloid media will resume on Tuesday as the royal attempts to drag the Sun’s former editor Rebekah Brooks back into the phone-hacking scandal.
Just a week after Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m (£635m) to settle a US defamation suit, the British arm of his media empire is attempting to block another lawsuit that could cause immense damage to the company.
Harry is seeking at least £200,000 in damages and alleges that the Sun newspaper illegally hacked his voicemails and hired private investigators to blag private information about his relationships during the 2000s, including when Brooks was editor.
Harry’s claim, initially filed in 2019, sets out at least 101 separate alleged payments made by the Sun to private investigators for information on him and his relationships, as well as stories he says were the result of his phone being hacked.
The preliminary court hearing is expected to see fresh testimony from Harry about the impact of the stories on his family life, including references to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. The timing could be awkward for King Charles, with the court hearing taking place just 10 days before his coronation. Harry has previously claimed there was a secret deal between the royal family and Murdoch’s media company not to bring legal cases against the British newspaper industry.
Just like in the Fox News libel trial, Murdoch’s company is braced for the disclosure of internal emails relating to the allegations. These could make uncomfortable reading for Brooks, who is now the chief executive of Murdoch’s British company News UK, overseeing everything from the Sun and the Times to talkTV and Virgin Radio.
Harry has made little secret of his deep personal loathing of Brooks. In the prince’s autobiography, he described an early encounter with her. “Everyone who knew her was in full agreement that she was an infected pustule on the arse of humanity, plus a shit excuse for a journalist,” he said.
His legal claim alleges “blatant examples” of voicemail interception and illegal information-gathering at the Sun in the mid-2000s. He claims these tactics were used to obtain stories about his personal life and relationships with headlines such as “Emotional Harry rang girlfriend at midnight to confess”, “Chelsy’s topless treat for Harry” and “Harry’s mad night of lust”.
Brooks was found not guilty of phone hacking at a criminal trial in 2014. In criminal trials, verdicts are decided by juries and require a higher standard of proof than in civil cases. Harry’s decision to bring a case for damages against her employer in the civil court could involve reopening some old wounds.
The Sun’s holding company, News Group Newspapers, is trying to avoid this outcome by convincing a judge to throw out the case on the basis that Harry waited too long to start legal proceedings. In return, Harry’s lawyers will try to convince a judge that the prince filed proceedings relatively late only because key evidence had been “deliberately concealed” by Murdoch’s company. Depending on the outcome of next week’s hearing, the case could head to a full trial next January.
The big question is how much money Harry is willing to commit to his cause. Other celebrities have settled their claims alleging wrongdoing by the Sun and Brooks for large sums of money on the eve of trial, citing the eye-watering legal costs of forcing one of the world’s biggest media companies to go to trial. In 2021, the actor Sienna Miller reluctantly accepted a large settlement, tearfully stating she did not have “countless millions of pounds to spend on the pursuit of justice”.
But Harry has said he wants to take his case all the way, citing the personal toll that press intrusion has had on his life and relationships – and the impact the media had on his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
While the size of the Fox News settlement in the US has dominated headlines in recent days, phone hacking has caused far greater financial damage to Murdoch’s business. An estimate by Press Gazette in 2021 put the costs to the company at well over £1bn, and this month Sun set aside a further £128m for legal cases.
Murdoch’s company has always insisted that phone hacking only took place at the News of the World, the now-defunct Sunday tabloid that was shut down in 2011 at the height of the scandal. Since then, News UK has settled hundreds of claims from celebrities and members of the public, while denying illegal activity took place at the Sun.
The problem for Murdoch – and Brooks – is that a growing number of fresh “Sun-only” claims are alleging wrongdoing took place at the daily tabloid. This is prompting awkward questions about why the company is paying large sums in damages to avoid cases alleging illegality at the Sun from going to trial.
A spokesperson for the publisher said the company had already given an “unreserved apology” to victims of voicemail interception at the News of the World but would fight claims that sought to involve the Sun.
They said: “The Sun does not accept liability or make any admissions to the allegations. As we reach the tail end of litigation, [News Group Newspapers] is drawing a line under disputed matters, some of which date back more than 20 years ago. All of these matters are historical, dating back to a period between 1996 and 2012.”
The judge will rule on whether Harry’s claim can continue alongside a phone-hacking case brought by another upper-class Englishman, the actor Hugh Grant. While is it doubtful that Harry will show up in person at the court hearing, Grant is expected to make an appearance and listen as lawyers argue that he can bring a fresh claim against the Sun.
Harry’s case against Murdoch is one of three separate, parallel legal cases that the prince is bringing against different newspaper groups, all of which are being fought by the publishers.
Earlier this month, Harry appeared in court to launch his battle against the parent company of the Daily Mail. A judge is due to rule in the coming weeks on whether that case can head to trial. His other phone-hacking claim, against the parent company of the Mirror, is heading to trial next month, which is likely to involve Harry giving evidence from the witness box.
His all-out war on the British media means the only national newspaper owners he is not suing are those of the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and the Financial Times.
