Prince Harry’s Newspaper Trial Delayed Amid Last-Minute Settlement Talks

The highly anticipated court battle between Prince Harry and Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) has been delayed as the two sides engage in last-minute settlement discussions, Al Jazeera reports.

The trial, which was scheduled to begin this week at London’s High Court, was put on hold after lawyers for both parties requested more time to negotiate.

Prince Harry and former senior MP Tom Watson are suing NGN, alleging unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators working for its publications, the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, between 1996 and 2011. The claims include allegations of phone hacking and other illegal information-gathering tactics.

At what was meant to be the start of the eight-week trial on Tuesday, Harry and Watson’s lawyer, David Sherborne, requested an adjournment to allow for further discussions. Judge Timothy Fancourt granted the request but warned it would be the “last adjournment,” and that the trial would proceed if a deal wasn’t reached.

Sherborne subsequently requested yet more time, a move supported by NGN’s lawyer Anthony Hudson, who cited “time difference difficulties” – a possible reference to Prince Harry, who resides in California.

Judge Fancourt expressed skepticism that court filings would impact settlement talks, but Hudson argued that “other matters which will occur when the trial starts will have a very significant impact on the settlement dynamic.” The judge ultimately refused to grant additional delays, stating that some lawyers from both sides could continue negotiating a potential agreement while the trial commences.

When Hudson requested a brief private discussion with the judge, Fancourt declined. He also rejected permission to appeal but acknowledged that his decision meant the parties would probably appeal directly to the Court of Appeal anyway.

Prince Harry has said that his motivation is not financial compensation, but to uncover the truth. Many previous claimants have chosen to settle with NGN to avoid the risk of a substantial legal bill, even if they won their cases, but had rejected the publisher’s settlement offer.

NGN has already paid hundreds of millions of pounds in damages to victims of phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering connected to the News of the World. The media group has settled over 1,300 lawsuits involving celebrities, politicians, sports figures, and others connected to prominent events.

Harry’s legal team has previously asserted that his older brother, Prince William, settled his own case against NGN in 2020 for a “very large sum of money.”

While Rupert Murdoch shut down the News of the World in 2011, NGN continues to deny any unlawful activity occurred at the Sun newspaper and has pledged to defend the claims vigorously.