Prince Harry agrees to settlementwith newspaper for invasion of privacy

Prince Harry has agreed to a last-minute settlement with News Group Newspapers (NGN) — in the same week the case was set to go to trial.An eleventh-hour deal between the Duke of Sussex, 40, and NGN was announced Wednesday after both parties were embroiled in intense negotiations for 24 hours.Proceedings at London’s High Court were due to kickstart Tuesday, however were pushed back several times after repeated requests from both legal teams.On Wednesday, Harry’s attorney, David Sherborne, said the parties had reached an agreement, adding that NGN had offered an apology in addition to “substantial damages.”In a statement, NGN “acknowledged, without any admission of illegality, that NGN’s response to the 2006 arrests and subsequent actions were regrettable.”Harry, who did not appear in court this week, brought forward claims of wrongdoing by the publisher, and was due to take his case to court for an up to 10-week trial.The former working royal joined forces with former Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson against the publisher over alleged unlawful information gathering between 1996 and 2011.The apology, made out to Harry and his estranged father King Charles, stated NGN’s regret over “the serious intrusion into his private life,” Sherborne read in court.The group also apologized for diving into the private life of Harry and Prince William’s late mother, Princess Diana, during her “younger years” prior to her untimely death in 1997.NGN said its agreements with both parties “draws a line under the past” and effectively “brings an end to this litigation.”“There are strong controls and processes in place at all our titles today to ensure this cannot happen now,” an NGN spokesperson added.“There was no voicemail interception on The Sun.”The Post, which shares the same parent company as The Sun, has reached out to Harry’s reps for further comment.The prince — who became the first senior British royal for 130 years to gi...