Prince Harry has ended his four-year legal battle against the Mirror’s publisher by accepting a “substantial” sum of money.
The High Court was told that Mirror Group Newspapers had also agreed to pay all of the Duke of Sussex’s costs in last year’s hacking trial.
Last year, the duke became the first royal in more than a hundred years to take the witness stand at the High Court.
He was the most prominent of four plaintiffs who accused Mirror Group Newspapers of hacking them for news.
After the seven-week trial last summer, the judge awarded Harry £140,600. In his landmark ruling in December, Judge Fancourt concluded that 15 of 33 articles about Harry came from hacking.
The Duke of Sussex arrives at the High Court in London on June 7 last year to give evidence
But he also dismissed the remaining 17 articles of the duke’s claims, calling one of them “desperate”. And those 33 were just a “sample” of a total of 148 items that Harry had complained about.
A second trial had been proposed to consider the remaining 115 items he claimed came from hacking. But today it was announced that an out-of-court settlement had been reached.
Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne told Judge Fancourt: ‘MGN has accepted the duke’s offer.
MGN will pay a significant additional sum in damages and, secondly, all the costs of your claim.” The “additional sum” was not specified but will be added to the £140,600.
The legal costs that the newspaper group will have to pay to Harry’s lawyers will likely be substantially higher.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, photographed outside Canada House in London in January 2020
The court heard that, in relation to Harry’s three fellow claimants, the newspaper should pay them £2.1 million to cover their costs. Harry’s costs were not revealed in court.
Harry’s case at the trial was heard alongside similar claims brought by actor Michael Turner, known professionally as Michael Le Vell and famous for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, the comedian’s ex-wife. Paul. White House.
The claims brought by Ms Sanderson and Ms Wightman were dismissed because they were brought too late, even though the judge found some of their claims to be proven.
An MGN spokesperson said: “We are pleased to have reached this agreement, which gives our business greater clarity to move forward with events that took place many years ago and for which we have apologized.”