What Prince Harry’s retirement means to him and to the British royal family

Prince Harry’s last-minute arrangement of long-sleeved shirts with Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids was on the front pages of a handful of London newspapers on Thursday, although apparently not in which is owned by Mr. Murdoch.

The Sun, which has admitted wrongdoing by private investigators it hired more than a decade ago to dig up personal information about Harry, did not come to the story until ‘on Page 6. bottom page 12, next to the report on the lack of eyesight of the actress Judi Dench.

The Daily Mail, which is the publisher of Associated Newspapers, was also sued by Harry for hacking his phone and invading his privacy, reported the news on its inside pages, as did The Daily Mirror, which newspaper publisher Mirror Group lost to phone hacking. suit Harry in 2023.

Such is the difficult reality of the war on the British tabloids, as Harry did in 2019, when he filed the first lawsuit against three powerful publishers: Associated Newspapers, Mirror Group and Mr. Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers. The Daily Mail case is expected to go to court next year.

Even papers that don’t care about Harry, such as the right-wing Daily Telegraph, have pulled the plug on the deal. The Telegraph, in a front-page article, said Harry had “stepped down after eight payments”, adding: “His quest to break up part of the Murdoch empire is ended up in a mess, not a vacuum.”

Critics of the press coverage said it underestimated the importance of what Harry had taken. Significantly, including the first admission by News Group Newspapers that illegal activity had taken place, not only at The News of the World, a tabloid Mr Murdoch closed in 2011, but in The Sun, the leading British tabloid.

The News Group insists its consent applies to individual investigators, not to editors or reporters at The Sun. But the newspaper is edited by Rebekah Brooks, who has been chief executive of News UK for several years now (News Group Newspapers, a subsidiary of News UK, publishes The Sun.)

Harry’s partner Tom Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labor Party, said he would hand over a dossier of evidence of misconduct to the police. Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, urged the police and Parliament to investigate not only the illegal activities at The Sun, but also evidence of perjury and cover-ups by current and former News executives. in the past.

“If you’re interested in responsible media, Harry’s was a very public-interest move, and it cost him dearly,” said Peter Hunt. former BBC newspaper. “He made them accept something they had been denying for years.”

“The frustrating thing about it is that the public doesn’t appreciate it,” Mr Hunt added. “Most of his understanding of what Harry is doing is through the media who hate him.”

Press coverage of Harry and his wife, Meghan, has turned relentlessly negative after he announced plans to leave Britain in 2020. It’s taking a toll on his reputation: Survey According to a YouGov poll late last year in Britain, Harry’s approval rating was 32 percent, while William’s was 74 percent. his brother. Meghan’s rating is 19 percent, the lowest for any popular royal.

“The blackening of the names of Prince Harry and his wife by a large section of Fleet Street has been appalling to watch,” Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian, told Channel 4 on Wednesday, pointed to the traditional London high street for press releases. “It seems like an almost deliberate ploy to destroy the dignity of someone who threatens them.”

In this case, Harry may have reinforced his difficulty by stressing the need for a trial. Speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook conference last month, he explained that under English law, plaintiffs who refuse a settlement greater than what the court grants are on the hook. the legal value of both parties. News Group Newspapers has already spent more than a billion dollars settling 1,300 phone hacking claims, with only Harry and Mr Watson determined to take their claims to court.

“They settled because they had to,” said Harry. “So, one of the big reasons to look at this is accountability, because I’m the last person to do it.”

However, shortly before the trial began, Harry agreed to a settlement worth 10 million pounds ($12.3 million). As Piers Morgan, broadcaster and vocal critic of the prince, posted on social media, “So, Prince Harry took the money.”

Harry didn’t say what he planned to do with the money. His legal bills will be substantial, although Daniel Taylor, a media lawyer, said these are often covered by the parties offering to settle with separate payments. He did not comment beyond the statement which Mr Sherborne read to him.

On the one hand, however, Harry’s decision to settle may reduce the tension with his family. She said last year that her campaign against the tabloids was at the root of her rift with her brother William and their father, King Charles III.

Harry said they had a “confidential agreement” with News Group in which they agreed to drop, or settle, legal claims to avoid testifying about potentially embarrassing details from the messages. them. William, his brother noted in the legal petition, settled with the News Group for “a lot of money” in 2020.

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, where William has his office, declined to comment on the deployment.

By joining his brother in the deal, Harry will avoid another embarrassing show for the royal family. But Mr Hunt and other royal watchers cautioned against concluding that this would be the only cure for the rift, which includes painful issues such as the family’s treatment of Meghan and the airing of dirty laundry in her memory. , “Spare”.

“The damage is so deep that one court case is not going to be enough to fix it,” Mr Hunt said. “The fissures are widening.”