Prince Harry’s lawyers will attend a London court on Tuesday to take legal action against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the Sun tabloid and the now-defunct News of the World, over allegations of phone-hacking. Harry started legal proceedings against NGN in September 2019. During three days of preliminary hearings this week, NGN is seeking to dismiss claims by the prince and British actor Hugh Grant against the Sun, arguing they should have taken action sooner. Harry is pursuing four cases at the High Court in London against British newspapers that he accuses of using illegal means to invade his or his wife’s privacy or lying about them.
His claim against NGN could prove particularly sensitive for Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group. In 2012, it issued an unreserved apology for widespread hacking carried out by journalists at the News of the World which Murdoch shut down amid a backlash. But it has always rejected any unlawful activity at the Sun.
During the trial against Rebekah Brooks and others, the News of the World’s former royal editor Clive Goodman said in the mid-2000s he had hacked the voicemails of Harry as well as those of his elder brother Prince William and William’s wife Kate.
As part of claims he has brought against another publisher, Associated Newspapers, Harry said he had been “vaguely” aware of this in 2005. But he said he only realized he could sue NGN in 2018, accusing Buckingham Palace of withholding information from him.
Last month, he attended court in person to hear lawyers for Associated, which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, seek to throw out a case brought by him and other high-profile figures including singer Elton John. Next month, his lawyers will be back in court as part of litigation against the publisher of the Daily Mirror paper, which he and others are suing over allegations of phone-hacking, with the prince expected to give evidence in person in June. He is also suing Associated for libel, with a decision on whether he can win that case without a trial also expected presently.
