Prince William appears to have discreetly settled his own phone-hacking case against News Group Newspapers back in 2020.
Amid Prince Harry's ongoing lawsuit against the British publisher—in which he accuses their publications The Sun and the now-shuttered News of the World of gathering unlawful personal information and phone-hacking—new details have emerged, including claims of his older brother's private settlement.
According to court documents obtained by Reuters, which have not been confirmed independently by NBC News, Harry's legal team has stated a deal was reached between the Rupert Murdoch-owned company and Buckingham Palace on behalf of the Prince of Wales.
Per the outlet, the document stated in part, "It is important to bear in mind that in responding to this bid by NGN to prevent his claims going to trial, the claimant has had to make public the details of this secret agreement, as well as the fact that his brother, His Royal Highness, Prince William, has recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes," noting that NGN settled for a "for a very large sum of money in 2020."
According to Reuters, the document also quoted the Duke of Sussex's witness statement, in which he said the settlement was made to "avoid the situation where a member of the royal family would have to sit in the witness box and recount the specific details of the private and highly sensitive voicemails that had been intercepted."
Harry began legal action against NGN in September 2019.
The latest detail unveiled from his phone-hacking case comes amid his two other ongoing suits against British news publishers, including a defamation case The Mail on Sunday filed in 2022 and another lawsuit filed later that year against Associated Newspapers for "abhorrent activity."
NBC News has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment and has not heard back.
(NBC News and E! are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
