Prince Harry Wins Legal Case Against Mirror Group for Phone Hacking, Awarded $500,000+ in Damages

In a significant legal development, Prince Harry has reached a settlement in his phone hacking case against Mirror Group Newspapers, marking a pivotal moment in his ongoing battle for privacy rights. After years of litigation, Prince Harry has secured an additional sum in damages from the company, which owns several British tabloids, including The Daily Mirror.

According to NBC News, David Sherborne, Harry's attorney, revealed during a hearing on February 9 that MGN and the Prince had reached an agreement whereby the publisher would pay Harry's legal fees and damages in addition to an interim payment of 400,000 pounds ($505,000) for violating his privacy through phone hacking and other unlawful snooping.

"After our victory in December," he stated outside the courtroom, according to a statement released on Harry's behalf and shared with E! News, "Mirror Group have finally conceded the rest of my claim. Everything we said was happening at Mirror Group was in fact happening, and indeed far worse as the Court ruled in its extremely damaging judgement." The Prince also went on to say, "As the judge has said this morning, we have uncovered and proved the shockingly dishonest way the Mirror Group acted for many years and then sought to conceal the truth."

A judge determined that phone hacking was 'widespread and habitual' at MGN throughout the 1990s and aughts and that company executives covered up the activity, leading to Harry's prior award of $177,000 in damages in December. Judge Timothy Fancourt concluded at the time that Harry's phone had been compromised 'to a modest extent,' according to the same NBC News report.

In the December verdict, the judge determined that 15 of the 33 articles that Harry had included as part of his 2019 lawsuit had information that had been obtained via 'phone hacking or unlawful information gathering,' as per The Guardian. As the case developed, Harry's claim was reinforced by 115 more articles that were published between 1996 and 2010; had the royal family not negotiated a settlement with MGN, these articles may have been the focus of a second trial.

The Mirror Newspapers group also apologized to Harry back in May and acknowledged that it has provided their "business further clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago and for which we have apologized." 

In a different royal family-related incident, while undergoing a benign prostate enlargement surgery in the hospital, King Charles III, a member of the royal family, got a cancer diagnosis. "His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties," the palace announced on Feb. 5. "Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual. The King is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure. He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible." Harry gave him a quick visit that lasted between 25 to 30 minutes.