Harry 'ruffles feathers' with William after payout court claim
Prince Harry has "ruffled feathers" with estranged brother Prince William after alleging he received a payout over phone hacking claims, a royal expert has said. The High Court was told William recently reached a settlement with publisher News Group Newspapers over claims of hacking. The claim was made in court documents from Harry's lawyers on Tuesday as a three-day legal hearing in London began.
Harry is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World, over alleged unlawful information gathering at its titles. NGN is asking Mr Justice Fancourt to throw out both claims, arguing they have been brought too late.
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Prince Harry and William in France in 2017 (Getty Images)
And speaking on Australian TV show Today, royal expert Camilla Tominey said it was "another bombshell" from Harry that could widen the rift with his family. She told the programme: "What he is implying in this statement has certainly ruffled feathers behind palace gates."
At the High Court, responding to the publisher's strike-out application, Harry's lawyers said it was an attempt to go behind a "secret agreement" between the royal family as an institution and NGN, which the duke was informed of in 2012. In documents before the court, David Sherborne, representing Harry, said the late Queen was involved in "discussions and authorisation" of the alleged agreement, which was said to be that members of the royal family would not pursue claims against NGN until after the conclusion of the litigation over hacking.
William during an engagement on Tuesday morning (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Mr Sherborne said in written arguments that the alleged agreement "meant that the claimant could not bring a claim against NGN for phone hacking at that time". He added: "It was agreed directly between these parties, as opposed to their lawyers ... that at the conclusion of the Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation (MTVIL) News would admit or settle such a claim with an apology.
"In 2017, the claimant and the institution began to push for the outstanding claim to be resolved. "However, News filibustered in relation to this until, in 2019, the claimant had enough and issued his claim." Mr Sherborne said William has "recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes".
Harry is suing News Group Newspapers (AFP via Getty Images)
Kensington Palace declined to comment on behalf of the Prince of Wales.
In part of a witness statement prepared for Tuesday's hearing, Harry said: "My brother and I were also told by either the institution's solicitor ... or someone else from the institution that there was no possibility of either of us bringing a claim against NGN for phone hacking at that time. "The rationale behind this was that a secret agreement had been reached between the institution and senior executives at NGN whereby members of the royal family would bring phone hacking claims only at the conclusion of the Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation and at that stage the claims would be admitted or settled with an apology." Anthony Hudson KC, for NGN, said the publisher's position is that "there was no such secret agreement".
He added that, while communications show "discussions took place between the Palace and NGN in 2017-2018 about resolving outstanding issues relating to allegations of (voicemail interception), they do not provide any support for a suggestion that there was an agreement by which NGN would forgo its right to bring a limitation defence in response to any claims by members of the royal family".
The hearing is expected to last three days and the judge will determine whether their claims will progress to a trial, which is due to be heard in January next year.