(NewsSpace.com) – Prince Harry is one of the most recognizable names in the world, not just for his drama with the Royal Family, but because he’s been front and center in the years since his mother, Princess Diana’s, death. As they did his mother, the paparazzi have relentlessly pursued the prince and his brother, now the Duke of Cambridge. To get the scoop, many publications relied on unscrupulous methods, including phone hacking. Prince Harry sued many publications for their alleged unlawful actions, and he recently got a parietal win in one of the cases.
On Friday, December 15, a judge ruled in Harry’s case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). As evidence, the prince had submitted 33 articles, claiming MGN got the information for those publications by hacking his phone between 2003 and 2009. The articles centered on tidbits of the royal’s life that nobody knew outside his family and closest peers. When the information became public, it sowed distrust as he was trying to figure out who was responsible for leaking the stories. The judge ruled in favor of 15 of the 33 articles, awarding the prince damages totaling approximately $180,000.
While Harry wasn’t in court for the verdict, his attorney quoted him as saying that the case, though it centers on the unscrupulous hacking—which editors at MGN reportedly knew about and covered up—wasn’t about the hacking at all. Instead, it’s “about a systemic practice of unlawful and appalling behavior, followed by cover-ups and destruction of evidence.” MGN’s parent company, Reach, issued a formal apology.
This isn’t the only lawsuit Prince Harry has pending. He’s also suing Associated Newspapers (ANL) for what he claims was illegal information gathering and libel, and News Group Newspapers (NGN) for invasion of privacy. These two will be going to trial, but it could take some time before they do. The case against NGN, for example, is likely to be heard in January 2025, according to PEOPLE.
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