Has Prince Harry Really Won His Tabloid Battle?

The agreement between Prince Harry and News Group Newspapers is a dramatic, high-risk change. But without the court it is a courtroom drama.

Prince Harry’s team hailed the deal halting the lawsuit as a “significant victory”, awarding him an undisclosed amount of “substantial damages” and an “explicit apology”.

They say he’s been exonerated – but will there be, deep down, some mixed feelings. Was it really the “killer dragons” of the tabloid press, as he celebrated after a previous victory when he gave evidence in court against Mirror Group newspapers?

While on the other side of the canceled case, NGN say the settlement “draws a line under the past” and they reject claims that would have been made in court about a corporate cover-up.

When NGN has spent £1 billion on previous claims, they may think that the additional expense of staying out of court will also be a victory for them.

Why did Prince Harry compromise now?

It appears that Prince Harry was adamant that it was about “accountability.”

“The goal is accountability. It’s really that simple,” Prince Harry told a media event in New York last month on why he was taking aim at the Murdoch press.

“The scale of the cover-up is so great that people need to see it for themselves,” he said.

He was fully aware of the financial risks associated with such civil disputes, but was determined to apply pressure not only for himself but for the 1,300 claimants whom he said had been settled, but he had received “no No justice has been received.

“Accountability” was mentioned again in a statement read on behalf of Prince Harry and his co-claimant Lord Watson.

“The time for accountability has come,” but that meant calling on Parliament and the police to pursue what they called “illegal activity now finally acknowledged” and “lying and hiding along the way.”

There were similar calls for follow-up when Prince Harry won against the Mirror group of newspapers, but there has been no imminent sign of action.

Perhaps it should have come as no surprise that a deal was struck.

There has always been enormous pressure for compromise, because the civil law curve bends very strongly in that direction.

Even if a claimant wins a case, they may still have to pay their opponents’ costs if the damages award is less than the amount offered.

The legal costs and damages at stake in this case could have been £10 million. This is a big decision for anyone. And the unknown danger of what might happen in a court case and what questions Harry might have faced on the witness stand. Her case may have been statuteed out or her claims may have been dismissed.

All psychological cards must have been stacked to make the deal. Does everyone have a price? Even when he is seen as the last man standing?

In terms of the amount of damages paid to Prince Harry, or what he might do with the money, it has not been made public.

But Prince Harry’s team has seized on the skyscraper scale of the apology – seeing it as a “fallout” of NGN’s denials.

They may argue that even if they fought a court battle and won, nothing would be achieved.

This has always been a very personal battle for Prince Harry, a battle with the tabloids over his childhood as well as his adult life. It is therefore significant that the apology includes an acknowledgment of the “serious intrusion” into “the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales”.

This may mean more to him than any financial deal.

Prince Harry’s team also reiterated claims that “The Sun, the flagship title of Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal activities”.

This references the apology’s mention of “illegal activities conducted by private investigators working for Sun.”

The NGN statement emphasizes that this applies to the activities of external private investigators “not by journalists” at The Sun.

But it does bridge the gap somewhat between what happened at the now defunct News of the World and The Sun.

While the statement from Prince Harry’s team lambasts those who have presided over a “toxic culture” in parts of the media past and present, and reiterates his claims about a corporate cover-up, it comes under attack from a court case. There are lines that will never happen again.

NGN rejects claims of cover-up and destruction of evidence. But the overall tone of the reaction is relief at the end of the debate over old battles, and it now draws a line under all these controversies on the front pages of decades ago.

“Indeed the judge made it clear in remarks to the court at the end of the hearing that these cases are likely to be the last to be heard,” NGN said.

The bombshell case that was to have seen Prince Harry give evidence against his tabloid tormentors has ended before it even began. After all, who would be happier than that?