According to documents released during a trial between Prince Harry and the publisher of the Daily Mail, the Prince of Wales would have received “a very large sum of money” from Rupert Murdoch’s company in 2020 to put an end to a complaint.
New revelation in the lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily MailAssociated Newspaper, accused by several celebrities, including Prince Harry, of gathering information illegally, including through wiretapping.
As reported The Guardianlawyers for the Duke of Sussex shared in a hearing at the High Court in London in late March, legal documents which show a “very large sum of money” paid in 2020 by the media company from Rupert Murdoch to Prince William, in order to put an end to a legal action brought by the Prince of Wales against the press mogul.
Illegal eavesdropping scandals
Prince Harry, the youngest son of King Charles, is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) – which is owned by Rupert Murdoch – over several eavesdropping scandals from the early 2000s.
At the beginning of 2005, the case initially concerned tapping in the messaging services of collaborators of Princes William and Harry, but the emotion had peaked in the summer of 2011 when the tabloid News of the World listened to the voicemail of a missing and eventually found dead schoolgirl, Milly Dowler.
The revelations had led to the disaster closure of the Sunday tabloid of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who had paid two million pounds to the family of Milly Dowler in an amicable agreement.
At trial, the News Group Newspapers company argued that the High Court should dismiss the charges against it because the complaints were filed too late, it said.
Avoid damage to the reputation of the royal family
But during his hearing before the High Court in London last March, Prince Harry claimed that an agreement reached between the royal family and News Group Newspapers – the publishing company of The Times, The Sunday Times et The Sun – prevented him from filing a complaint sooner.
The deal, which the prince said had been authorized by Queen Elizabeth II before her death, was made in order “to avoid a member of the royal family having to sit in the witness box and tell the specific details of the private and highly sensitive voicemails that were intercepted,” reports The Guardian.
The Duke of Sussex also reports in his deposition that Buckingham Palace “wanted at all costs” to avoid the damage to the reputation of the Royal Family caused by the publication, in the 1990s, of details of an “intimate telephone conversation between Charles and the current Queen Consort Camilla, while his father was still married to his mother, Princess Diana.
Tired of this agreement, Prince Harry would still have filed a complaint against the publisher in 2019. Prince William would, according to his brother, be satisfied with the amount of money paid by Rupert Murdoch’s company.
