Royal Family News: Prince William Took “Very Large Sum” As Settlement For Phone-Hacking Case

The court hearing regarding the phone-hacking lawsuit filed by the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry against publications, “The Sun” and the now-defunct “News of the World” for unlawfully collecting personal information, and hacking of the royals’ phones aired on Tuesday, April 26, 2023.

It was revealed during the hearing that Prince Harry’s elder brother Prince William received a hefty sum of money from an arm of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Group Newspapers as settlement in 2020.

Royal Family News — How The Revelation Came To Light

The media outlet News Group Newspapers which is owned by Rupert Murdoch argued that the High Court Judge should dismiss Harry’s lawsuit because it was not filed at the initial stage.

The argument caused the Duke to reveal that the lawsuit was filed late because Prince William secretly collected “a very large sum of money,” for the issue to be settled. Harry explained that the publication called for the agreement and settlement of the issue.

While the amount received by the Prince of Wales was not disclosed, it was brought to light during the summary of arguments as a reason the judge shouldn’t throw away Harry’s phone-hacking lawsuit which was also filed by actor Hugh Grant.

The agreement between William and the media outlet was reached at the time when their grandmother the late Queen Elizabeth II was alive. Harry revealed that it was in fact the late Queen who authorized the deal.

The outlet denied the existence of such agreement but Harry went on to share that William conceded to taking the large sum in order to “avoid the situation where a member of the royal family would have to sit in the witness box and recount the specific details of the private and highly sensitive voicemails that had been intercepted.”

Royal Family News — Prince Harry’s Witness Statement

According to the court documents, Harry’s legal team stated, “It is important to bear in mind that in responding to this bid by NGN to prevent his claims going to trial.”

The document continued, “The claimant has had to make public the details of this secret agreement, as well as the fact that his brother, His Royal Highness, Prince William, has recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes.”

During Harry’s testimony, the Duke referred to the “Tampongate” incident when his father King Charles III referred to himself as a tampon while speaking with his wife the Queen Consort, Camilla.

“The institution was incredibly nervous about this and wanted to avoid at all costs the sort of reputational damage that it had suffered in 1993 when The Sun and another tabloid had unlawfully obtained and published details of an intimate telephone conversation that took place between my father and stepmother in 1989, while he was still married to my mother.”

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