What you need to know about Prince Harry’s lawsuits against the British tabloids

On Wednesday, The Mirror’s publisher admitted that it had illegally collected information about Harry in one instance and issued an apology. However, the publisher denied that its journalists had hacked into Harry’s voicemail messages, saying too much time had passed since the break-ins that would prevent the case from moving forward. Piers Morgan, the TV presenter who was the editor of The Mirror for several years of the trial, has also denied wrongdoing.

Harry has filed two other lawsuits against British tabloids related to the unauthorized collection of information: one is against the publisher of The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday and other plaintiffs are involved, including the singer Elton John and the actresses Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley. The other lawsuit is against the publisher of The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch. Both publishers deny the allegations and have asked for the cases to be dropped. A ruling is expected in the coming months.

What is Harry’s goal?

For the prince, it’s about more than just money. Harry has compared the tabloid coverage of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, to their treatment of his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi. In his telling memoir, “Spare,” published in January, Harry described the trauma inflicted on him by intrusive tabloids.

Harry’s lawsuit against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun, alleges that, in addition to hacking phones, the organization illegally obtained information such as his medical records. The actor Hugh Grant, who appeared in court in April, is also filing a separate lawsuit against The Sun for allegedly hiring private investigators to break into his house.

Is Prince William involved?

In a legal filing in April, Harry revealed that News Group Newspapers paid his brother, William, the heir apparent, a “huge sum of money” in 2020 to settle claims that journalists hacked into his mobile phone. The payment was part of a “secret agreement” between the publisher and the royal family, in which the family would defer legal claims against the company and avoid the spectacle of having to testify about embarrassing details from their intercepted voicemail messages, the filing said. .