Prince William has received a “very large sum” from Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper group to settle complaints of phone hacking, court documents filed by his younger brother Prince Harry’s legal team on Tuesday revealed.
The Duke of Sussex is suing Murdoch News Group’s (NGN) newspapers in London’s High Court for wrongful actions – including hacking Voicemail messages – which he claims were committed on behalf of the tabloids the sun that it world Newsnow defunct, from 1994 to 2016. This week’s hearing aims to decide whether the case should go to trial.
In documents filed with the court, Harry’s legal team alleges that there was a secret payment from Murdoch’s company to William. The document does not disclose the amount nor details of what William claimed happened, but says that NGN reached an agreement with the prince “for a very large sum of money in 2020”.
News of William’s payout came after Murdoch’s Fox News channel agreed to pay $787.5 million (€716 million) to the royal family. Dominion Voting Systems after agreement with the company.
Harry claimed that the payment to his older brother was part of a confidential agreement between NGN and Buckingham Palace not to take any further legal action against Murdoch’s newspapers until other outstanding wiretapping disputes had been resolved. NGN denies the existence of a secret deal.
Kensington Palace on behalf of Prince William and Buckingham Palace on behalf of King Charles III declined to comment. It is not clear if Harry is speaking to his brother or his father. in your diary in the shadeThe Duke reveals that one of the main areas of contention was his perception of the Palace’s shortcomings in action in the face of negative stories in the tabloids.
Harry says the deal was made because the palace wanted to avoid the royals having to testify in court. In his testimony, Harry justified that the king wanted to avoid revealing “specific details of very private and sensitive audio messages” in court, and referred to “the intimate telephone conversation that took place between his father and his stepmother in 1989, when he was still married to his mother.”
It is believed that the duke was referring to the story that became known as “Tampongate”. sun, which was published in 1993, after the newspaper obtained a 1989 telephone recording of an intimate conversation between Prince Carlos and then-Camila. So, Carlos and Diana are already separated and the Prince is on the phone with Camila. “I should live inside your pants,” he says. “Everything will be easier.” Camilla laughs. “Are you going to change into a pair of underwear?” They laughed and Carlos declared, “Or, God forbid, in Tampax. How lucky I’ll be!”
Harry also said that in 2017 he decided to apologize to Murdoch and that his grandmother Elizabeth II and his brother supported the initiative. Harry said William was “very understanding, very supportive and agreed we needed to do this” and “suggested I ask ‘Grandma’ for permission”, adding that he spoke to the King shortly afterwards and said something along the lines of: ‘Are you happy why I move on’ In this, do I have your permission? And she said, “Yes.”
However, he claims that his efforts were thwarted by his father’s staff, as part of a “long-term strategy to keep the media, including NGN, out in order to pave the way for British audiences to accept my stepmother and queen consort and king respectively”.
NGN has already paid big bucks after journalists started publishing it world News They were arrested for hacking the phone. The company wants to drop Harry’s lawsuit because the prince waited too long to file a lawsuit. Harry’s defense says the reason for the delay was the secret deal between the palace and the Murdoch Company.
“It is important to note that, in response to this NGN attempt to prevent his allegations from going to trial, the Claimant was required to make public the details of this confidentiality agreement, as well as the fact that his brother, His Royal Highness, Prince William recently settled his lawsuit against NGN behind the scenes.”
Harry has been involved in several legal battles with British media groups. Last month, he surprised the press when he appeared in person in his lawsuit against a newspaper editor daily Mail. He is also expected to testify in a lawsuit against a publisher The Daily Mirror he is from Sunday Mirror to allegations of phone misuse. This process must begin a few days after his father’s coronation, on May 6th.
Exclusive PÚBLICO/The Washington Post
Translation: Barbara Wong
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