This week in London’s High Court, one of the world’s most famous individuals, and fifth in line to the British throne, will officially begin his legal case against the world’s best-known media baron.
Prince Harry versus Rupert Murdoch, or to give its official title ‘HRH The Duke of Sussex and News Group Newspapers Limited’, gets underway on Tuesday.
Barring an unexpected and dramatic climb down by King Charles’ younger son, the High Court will begin to hear Harry’s case against the British newspapers owned by Mr Murdoch, The Sun and the now deceased News of the World.
The Duke alleges News Group Newspapers (NGN) unlawfully intruded into his personal life, and he is due to travel from his home in California to London to appear in court in person once the case is fully underway.
It will be the culmination of an extraordinary personal battle between the former working member of the Royal Family and the executives of NGN over claims its journalists unlawfully hired personal investigators to delve into his private life between 1996 and 2011.
Harry is determined not to be deterred by the huge financial costs of bringing this case.
In fact, he regards himself as one of only a handful of people with the means to carry on the fight, after fellow accuser Hugh Grant and several dozen other claimants settled their cases against NGN out of court, having been warned the legal costs could be crippling – even for the wealthiest celebrities among them.
If a claimant were to turn down a settlement offer from Mr Murdoch’s media empire, and are then awarded less money in damages by the court, they become liable for the millions of pounds worth of legal fees – on both sides.
The English legal system encourages the claimant and defendant to settle their case before trial, in what’s called a “Part 36 offer”.
Hugh Grant claimed he could have faced potential costs of £10 million, even if he had won. Grant said NGN lawyers offered him an “enormous sum” and so he backed out of the fight.
When he recently spoke about how this case was about accountability, Prince Harry referred to himself as “the last person who can actually achieve that”.
One other surviving case will be heard alongside Prince Harry’s. It is that of Lord (Tom) Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labour Party and long-time campaigner over allegations of phone hacking and other examples of UIG – unlawful information gathering.
NGN is part of the media giant News Corp, which was founded by Rupert Murdoch.
Unlike previous legal proceedings over phone hacking, which was blamed on a small number of individuals, a win for the Duke of Sussex in this case could leave NGN being found guilty of corporate-level wrongdoing.
That is what motivates Prince Harry and why he is determined to pursue this matter until the very end – no matter what the financial cost.
NGN closed down the News of the World, its big-selling Sunday tabloid, in 2011 and apologised for the practices used by some of its journalists.
But it denies Prince Harry’s claim of a cover up on a widespread scale by NGN’s senior management.
Harry has seen success against another newspaper group – the owners of The Mirror.
In 2023, he gave evidence in person – and will do so again now.
But the court will not hear any evidence related to the practice of phone hacking – covertly listening to voicemails on other people’s phones – as Harry exceeded the time allowed by law to bring those cases.
NGN will argue once again that Prince Harry has run out of time to bring this claim, and will attempt to explain how each news article in question – the court will examine around 30 – was not written as a result of unlawful information gathering.
They will also vigorously defend the claim that the top executives at NGN were aware of what was going on in the newsroom and ordered a mass destruction of records.
Senior managers who deny any wrongdoing include the current CEO, Rebekah Brooks.
She is likely to give evidence in court, as well as the current editor of The Sun, Victoria Newton, and Will Lewis, who runs the Washington Post.
News Group Newspapers has previously said that both Prince Harry and Lord (Tom) Watson “allege unlawful destruction of emails by News International between 2010-2011. This allegation is wrong, unsustainable, and is strongly denied”.
For Prince Harry, it is about settling a score with some of the British tabloid press that he claims have made his life a misery for many years.
He says his family – the late Queen, the current King, and his brother William – always ran away from a showdown with the press over the stories they published.
By settling the cases of more than 1,000 claimants out of court, NGN has avoided a public trial over allegations of unlawful practices – until now.
But that could change on Tuesday morning when the Royal Courts of Justice opens its doors to the last two remaining claimants.
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