Harry the ‘predator’ who took on the ‘big beasts of the tabloid jungle’

The Duke of Sussex has been dubbed the predator of the “big beasts of the tabloid jungle” for his hard-fought battles against elements of the press who believed they were “untouchable”.

Harry has settled his case against News Group Newspapers (NGN), receiving substantial damages and a “full and unequivocal apology” for both “serious intrusion” into his private life and “unlawful activities” by The Sun.

He hailed it as a “monumental victory” – and there was a key apology too by NGN for the “extensive coverage and serious intrusion” into his personal life and that of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, when Harry was a child.

There was an acknowledgement by the media organisation of the distress caused to the duke, and “the damage inflicted on relationships, friendships and family”.

Lord Watson – Harry’s co-claimant – said outside court: “I once said that the big beasts of the tabloid jungle have no predators. I was wrong, they have Prince Harry.

“His bravery and astonishing courage … have brought accountability to a part of the media that thought it was untouchable.”

He praised the duke for his “unwavering support and his determination under extraordinary pressure”.

A statement read on Harry’s behalf outside court by his barrister David Sherborne told how “as a direct result of him taking a stand” Harry and those close to him had faced repeated “aggressive and vengeful coverage” since he began his claim more than five years ago.

In December, Harry vowed not to settle the claim, saying he was pursuing “truth and accountability” and that he was “the last person that can actually achieve that” after 1,300 others settled their cases against NGN.

The duke, appearing at the New York Times Dealbook Summit, said he had become “professional” at litigation but hinted he aimed to “retire” from the role “fairly soon”.

Harry revealed in an ITV documentary last year how his determination to take on the press was a “central piece” in destroying his relationship with his family.

The duke has faced a strained relationship with his father the King in recent years and an ongoing rift with his brother the Prince of Wales, which worsened after Harry and wife Meghan moved to the US, and after his Netflix documentary and his memoir Spare.

He said he wished his family had joined with him in his campaign in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

Harry told during his High Court battles how William reached a settlement with NGN for a “huge sum of money” over hacking claims in 2020.

And the duke claimed he could not bring his own legal action sooner because of a “secret agreement” between the royal institution and senior NGN executives, and that his bid for an apology from media mogul Rupert Murdoch was blocked by Charles’s staff.

Harry accused Clarence House of “seemingly blocking our every move” as part of a strategy to keep the media “onside in order to smooth the way for my stepmother, and father, to be accepted by the British public as Queen Consort and King respectively”.

Asked during the Tabloids On Trial documentary if his determination to fight the tabloids destroyed the relationship with his family, the duke replied: “Yeah, that’s certainly a central piece to it.”

He also insisted his grandmother the late Queen wanted him to see his battle against tabloid newspapers “to the end”.

Harry told ITV: “She knew how much this meant to me and … she’s very much out there, going ‘See this through to the end’, without question.”

In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote that his father, the-then Prince of Wales, told him his legal action against the press was “massively damaging to the reputation of the family”.

Harry was summoned to a meeting at Buckingham Palace with the late Queen, Charles and their two senior advisers to discuss his multiple lawsuits in 2019.

He wrote in his autobiography: “Alone, without my staff, without Meg, I was confronted directly about my legal action. My father said it was massively damaging to the reputation of the (royal) family.”

The duke was told by Charles that it “makes our relationship with the media complicated”.

Harry told them he objected to the “wining and dining” of “the same editors and journalists who’ve been attacking me and my wife”.

One of the two advisers, whom Harry dubbed the Bee and the Wasp, told him: “One has to have a relationship with the press … Sir, we’ve talked about this before.”

He described how he was met with “stony” faces when he said he would not have had to launch legal action if all of them had protected him and Meghan.

Harry’s relationship with the media is a complicated and difficult one, with roots in his childhood when he witnessed the overwhelming media intrusion faced by his mother on a daily basis.

Then, when the duke was just 12, Diana was killed in a crash after her car, driven at speed by a drunk chauffeur, was chased through the streets of Paris by the paparazzi.

In court documents, Harry also recounted how the tabloid press always became involved in his relationships, and tried to ruin them.

In a witness statement, he said: “At no point did I have a girlfriend or a relationship with anyone without the tabloids getting involved and ultimately ruining it, or trying to ruin it, using whatever unlawful means at their disposal.”

When Harry began dating American actress Meghan Markle, he attacked the media over its “abuse and harassment” of his girlfriend.

Kensington Palace warned on his behalf: “This is not a game – it is her life.”

Harry’s dislike of the media appeared to intensify following the birth of his first-born child Prince Archie.

At the end of an official tour to South Africa in 2019, Harry released a scathing attack on the tabloid press, in which he heavily criticised certain sections of the media for conducting what he called a “ruthless campaign” against his wife.

It was accompanied with the launch of legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of The Mail On Sunday, over the publication of parts of a private letter Meghan wrote to her father, and swiftly followed by lawsuits against NGN over unlawful activity at The Sun, and Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over phone hacking.

“I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces,” Harry said.

The duke told how he and Meghan believed in “media freedom and objective, truthful reporting” as a “cornerstone of democracy”.

But he added: “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.”

Meghan once recounted how she underestimated the tabloids’ interest in her after she began dating Harry.

“When I first met my now-husband my friends were really happy because I was so happy, but my British friends said to me ‘I’m sure he’s great but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life’,” she said.

The Sussexes stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 and moved to the US, in the hope of a “more peaceful” life.