By Lauren Kent and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN

London (CNN) — Prince Harry has called for police to launch a fresh investigation into Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group after securing a “monumental victory” by settling his case over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

The Duke of Sussex’s yearslong legal battle took an unexpected turn Wednesday, just as the trial was due to get underway, with the 40-year-old royal receiving an apology from the publisher that has also agreed to pay “substantial damages.”

The California-based duke had sued News Group Newspapers (NGN) – publisher of British tabloids The Sun and the now-shuttered News of the World – claiming journalists and private investigators working for the publications had targeted him and his family between 1996 and 2011.

David Sherborne, Harry’s lawyer, told London’s High Court that NGN “offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.”

Reading out a statement on behalf of the defendant, Sherborne said NGN also offered an apology to the royal “for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World.”

NGN also apologized for the impact of the intrusion into the private life of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

NGN said it acknowledged the “distress caused to the duke” as well as the “damage inflicted on relationships, friendships and family.”

Reports have emerged that the settlement for Harry and his fellow claimant – ex-lawmaker and former Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson – involved an eight-figure sum, which would likely include legal costs as well as damages. A source close to Harry’s legal team confirmed to CNN that the settlement was eight figures.

Court proceedings had been due to start Tuesday but were delayed after requests by lawyers on both sides. Ahead of the trial, which had been expected to last eight to 10 weeks, the tabloid group settled 1,300 other claims related to voicemail interception out of court, a spokesperson for the duke’s legal team previously said.

The phone hacking scandal has cost the Murdoch business more than £1 billion ($1.24 billion), a 2021 investigation by the industry publication Press Gazette found.

Sherborne, reading a statement on behalf of the two claimants, said: “In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices.”

Speaking outside court, Sherborne said that the result represented “a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong-armed into settling without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them.”

“After endless resistance, denials and legal battles by News Group Newspapers, including spending more than a billion pounds in payouts and in legal costs, as well as paying off those in the know in order to prevent the full picture from coming out, News UK is finally held to account for its illegal actions and its blatant disregard for the law,” he continued.

Harry’s fellow claimant, Watson, who also settled, had alleged that the tabloids engaged in unlawful information gathering and phone hacking between 2009 and 2011.

Watson has previously said he was targeted around the time he was investigating the Murdoch newspapers during a high-profile phone hacking scandal, which led to a government inquiry, as well as the 2011 closure of News of the World and forced Murdoch to apologize for phone hacking.

Harry’s lawyer also told the court that NGN apologized to his co-claimant Watson, for “unwarranted intrusion carried out into his private life during his time in government by the News of the World during the period 2009-2011.”

In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for NGN said that unlawful activities between 1996 and 2011 at The Sun were carried out by private investigators, and “not by journalists.”

“There are strong controls and processes in place at all our titles today to ensure this cannot happen now. There was no voicemail interception on The Sun,” the spokesperson added.

NGN also said that allegations it had destroyed evidence in 2010 and 2011 “were and continue to be strongly denied.”

“This matter was also investigated fully by the police and CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) between 2012-2015, at the conclusion of which it was found that there was no case to answer,” the spokesperson said.

‘Time for accountability has arrived’

Following the announcement of a settlement, the duke and his co-claimant urged authorities to investigate the historic unlawful activity carried out Murdoch’s publications.

Speaking outside court on behalf of his clients, Sherborne said that “the rule of law must now run its full course” and that the pair were “calling for the police and parliament to investigate not only the unlawful activity now finally admitted, but the perjury and cover-ups along the way.”

“It is clear now that this has occurred throughout this process, including through sworn evidence, in inquiries and court hearings, in testimony to parliament and until today’s final collapse of News Group’s defense,” Sherborne continued.

“Today, the lies are laid bare. Today, the cover-ups are exposed. And today proves that no one stands above the law. The time for accountability has arrived.”

Watson, who was present in court, said “these unlawful practices were not isolated incidents,” instead describing them as “industrial in scale.”

He expressed his gratitude to the duke for his “bravery and astonishing courage” in helping bring accountability to “a part of the media world that thought it was untouchable.”

The former lawmaker called on Murdoch to personally apologize to Harry, King Charles III and others “who suffered at the hands of his media empire.”

Watson said that “no one is above the law” and that his legal team would be handing over a dossier of information to the police.

Hacked Off, a UK press accountability organization, described the settlement as a “humiliating climb down” for NGN.

The group is calling on authorities to investigate further, including with another government probe. “It is now clear that the public and parliament were lied to by the newspaper and its publisher, as part of the most extraordinary corporate cover-up in living memory,” Hacked Off board director Emma Jones told CNN outside the court.

Jones told CNN it had taken a prince to “actually get these things aired” and urged the police to investigate.

Harry’s legal battles

Harry’s tempestuous history with the British tabloid press is well documented. His memoir offered insight into his deep resentment of some outlets and it’s no secret he holds them complicit in his mother’s premature death.

Over the years, he has taken it upon himself to fight for a more “responsible media,” as he once put it, with Wednesday’s rare apology from NGN years in the making.

He sued the publisher in 2019 and has been engaged in civil litigation with several UK publishers.

In 2023, his case against another tabloid group, Mirror Group Newspapers, went to trial. The duke was subsequently awarded £140,600 ($179,000) after the court ruled he was the subject of “extensive” phone hacking by the publisher from 2006 to 2011.

Harry also has another legal battle coming against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL). That claim, which involves several high-profile individuals, including singer Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, accuses the publisher of the Daily Mail of unlawful information gathering.

The group brought the case in October 2022 and alleged that ANL engaged in various types of criminal activity to obtain information about individuals in the group, including hiring private investigators to plant listening devices and record private phone calls. ANL has denied any wrongdoing.

That case could go to trial in early 2026.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Max Foster contributed reporting to this story.