LONDON - Prince Harry has settled the remainder of his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers over phone-hacking and other unlawful acts after the publisher agreed to pay “substantial” damages and his legal costs, his lawyer told the High Court on Friday.
In December, the court ruled that Harry had been a victim of unlawful information gathering including phone-hacking by journalists on the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People tabloid newspapers with the knowledge of their editors.
However, that judgement only considered 33 of 148 articles Harry had complained about, ruling in his favour over 15 of these. It awarded damages of £140,600 ($79,600) at the time.
His lawyer David Sherborne told the court on Friday that Mirror Group had now conceded the rest of his claim. “Mirror Group Newspapers will pay the Duke of Sussex a substantial additional sum by way of damages,” he said.
King Charles’ younger son, who became the first senior British royal for 130 years to give evidence in court when he appeared at a trial in June, was not in court for Friday’s hearing. He had flown to Britain earlier in the week to see the king after his father told him he had been diagnosed with a form of cancer.
They met for under an hour on Tuesday before Charles left London for his home at Sandringham where he is recuperating as he undergoes outpatient treatment for the condition. Harry left the following day to return to California.
Harry last month dropped a libel case against The Mail on Sunday. He had brought the claim following an article on his separate legal battle with the British government over security arrangements while in the UK.
He is still suing Associated Newspapers, as well as News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun, alleging that they hacked his mobile phone and otherwise violated his privacy. These are similar charges to the ones on which Harry scored his victory against the Mirror Group in December.
The prince has had a turbulent relationship with the media and holds the press responsible for the death of his mother Princess Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 as she fled from paparazzi.
David Sherborne, the barrister for Prince Harry, arrives at the High Court in London for a hearing on Friday in the long-running legal action brought by his client against Mirror Group Newspapers. (Photo: Reuters)