Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid papers bugged Prince Harry’s phones and accessed the messages on his late mother Princess Diana’s pager, lawyers for the royal alleged in a London high court.
Prince Harry is among 40 others suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over accusations of unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators on its tabloids, the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.
Judge Timothy Fancourt had previously told the Duke of Sussex he could take his claims of unlawful gathering to trial, but allegations of decades-old mobile phone hacking were thrown out.
On Thursday, Harry’s lawyers sought to amend his lawsuit in light of that ruling, adding other new allegations.
These include further claims the Sun ordered private investigators to target his then girlfriend and now wife Meghan in 2016, and accusations of widespread bugging of his calls.
The claim also includes allegations relating to Princess Diana who lawyers said “was under close surveillance and her calls were being unlawfully intercepted by (NGN), which was known about by its editors and senior executives”.
NGN lawyers objected to the addition of what they deemed a “huge number of new allegations”.
They say the allegations were made too late, lacked evidence, and related to phone-hacking claims which had already been dismissed.
“They cover time periods falling outside the scope of the current pleading and the generic statements of case, and in many cases relate to allegations which have been well-publicised for as long as 30 years,” NGN’s lawyers said in court filings.
In 2011, NGN apologised for widespread phone-hacking by journalists at the News of the World.
It was subsequently shut down by Murdoch following a public backlash, and has since settled more than 1,300 claims.
However, NGN has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by Sun staff.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the plaintiffs sought to personally include media magnate Murdoch in allegations of a cover-up of wrongdoing.
NGN argues some plaintiffs are simply using the lawsuit as a means to attack the tabloid press, calling allegations against current and former staff “a scurrilous and cynical attack on their integrity”.
This is the latest attempt by Prince Harry to fight the British press, which he says has intruded into his private life since he was a child.
In December, he won a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspaper over allegations of phone-hacking and unlawful activities, with the judge agreeing senior figures had been aware of what had been going on.
Reuters