Harry Claims Royal Family Agreed Not To Sue Newspapers Over Phone Hacking

Prince Harry has claimed members of the royal family struck a secret deal with newspapers not to sue them over phone hacking because it would "open a can of worms".

- Jim Waterson

The Duke of Sussex alleges his own family hid information from him about press intrusion and says he was conditioned to accept his family's view that they should not dare to take on Britain's newspaper industry.

In documents filed to the high court, he said there was a private arrangement between the royal family, which he calls "the Institution", and Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes the Sun.

Harry claimed: "There was in place an agreement between the Institution and NGN that we would not engage, or even discuss, the possibility of bringing claims against NGN until the litigation against it relating to phone hacking was over.

"The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking and it was made clear to me that the Royal Family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms.

"The Institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about NGN's phone hacking and that has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation."

In addition to claims against NGN and the publisher of the Mirror, Harry is now bringing a claim against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.