All The Details From Prince Harry's Lawsuit Against 'The Sun'

Recently, the allegations made by Prince Harry against News Groups Newspapers (NGN), claiming the news group engaged in phone hacking and other unlawful activity to obtain information, was deemed irrelevant by Justice Timothy Fancourt in court, as per The New York Times. However, the Duke of Sussex's lawsuit against publisher of The Sun Rupert Murdoch is far from over as other components to his claim are scheduled to be heard in High Court this January, as mentioned in The Guardian. 

Prince Harry's lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group The Sun began in 2012 when the former royal first heard news of the alleged agreement made between the Royal family and NGN. To Prince Harry's dismay, the supposed agreement is responsible for the delay of furthering the prince's claims of phone hacking because of other litigation occurring at the time. Therefore, in failing to pursue legal action within the six-year statute of limitation, Prince Harry's phone hacking claim was thrown out by Justice Fancourt last week and deemed void. 

Complex in nature, Prince Harry's lawsuit against The Sun is multifaceted as it covers over a decade's worth of claims pertaining to a wide cast of characters. To make matters easier to comprehend, L'OFFICIEL composed a complete timeline of Prince Harry's lawsuit, covering the variety of scandals that led to his hostile relationship with the press. 

With suspicions of an unlawful gathering of information beginning in 2012, Prince Harry asserted he was prohibited from bringing his concerns to light at the time because of a "secret agreement" made between the royal family and NGN officials, according to The Guardian. Prince Harry's lawyers argue that the former royal was given neither reason nor evidence to pursue claims against The Sun in 2012, defending his lack of action, but the judge refused to acknowledge said "secret agreement" in his written ruling. 

Within the year it was confirmed that Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle were in fact dating, Prince Harry issued a public statement denouncing the "wave of abuse and harassment" his girlfriend was receiving from the general public. According to The Telegraph, Prince Harry's tumultuous relationship with the press began once he expressed his disapproval of "the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments," foreshadowing the controversial reputation the couple would soon develop. 

At a hearing for Prince Harry's lawsuit held earlier this month in London, the Duke's lawyers provided evidence in the form of emails to verify the agreement between senior executives of the parent companies of NGN, under the control of Rupert Murdoch, and staff members at Buckingham Palace in 2017-18. Representing Prince Harry in High Court is David Sherborne, who also represented the late Princess Diana when she too felt her right to privacy had been violated by the press. In a formal written argument, Sherborne argues that given Prince Harry's settlement "for a very large sum of money" in 2020, said deal "supports the contention that there was a secret agreement in place" as said in The Telegraph. 

In 2019, both Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sued the tabloid press for violating their rights to privacy. Two years later, the judge issued a ruling in Meghan Markle's favor, asserting that The Mail on Sunday and Mail Online had unlawfully published excerpts from a private letter Markle sent to her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018. In that same year, Prince Harry sued News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun Rupert Murdoch, and the now-defunct News of the World for suspicions of unlawful gathering of information. Beginning in 2019, Prince Harry's relationship with the press began to crumble, prefacing his lawsuit against The Sun. 

Coining the phrase "Megxit," it was in the year 2021 in which Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were featured on the explosive television special Oprah with Meghan and Harry, debunking rumors and revealing their true feelings behind life as royals. According to The Telegraph, Prince Harry told Oprah Winfrey in the controversial interview, "The clicking of cameras and the flashing of cameras makes my blood boil… it makes me angry and takes me back to what happened to my mum and my experience as a kid." Amidst the turbulence of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle resigning from the Royal family, Prince Harry's lawsuit had remained out of the tabloids, until 2023. 

In the last three months, Prince Harry has been involved in six legal battles at the High Court, three of which have been brought against the British tabloids for "unlawful information gathering," according to The Telegraph. As of the end of July, the remaining claims approved by Justice Fancourt within Prince Harry's lawsuit are scheduled to be discussed in High Court this January. Therefore, the NGN and the now-defunct News of the World will not be brought to trial, described by the NGN as a "significant victory" as per The Telegraph. A spokesman for the NGN stated after the ruling last week:

"As we reach the tail end of litigation, NGN is drawing a line under disputed matters, some of which date back more than 20 years ago.

"In arguing his case, the Duke of Sussex had alleged a 'secret agreement' existed between him/Buckingham Palace and NGN which stopped NGN from asserting that the duke's claim had been brought too late.

"The Judge, Mr. Justice Fancourt, found his claims in relation to the alleged 'secret agreement' were not plausible or credible. It is quite clear there was never any such agreement and it is only the Duke who has ever asserted there was.

"This substantially reduces the scope of his legal claim. The exact nature and scope of any trial of the remainder will be the subject of further hearings" as per The Telegraph.