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The owner of the Sun newspaper has offered a “full and unequivocal apology” to the Duke of Sussex, for “serious intrusion” into his private life, and agreed to pay him substantial damages.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK after stepping back from official royal duties in 2020.

The couple has since launched various commercial ventures, including a new lifestyle brand headed by Meghan Markle called American Riviera Orchard.

What was the NGN court case about?
The apology ended a long-running legal battle between Prince Harry and News Group Newspapers (NGN), which owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times and published the News of the World before its 2011 closure.

The prince had alleged journalists and private investigators working for NGN had used unlawful techniques to pry on his private life – and senior executives had covered this up.

In a statement read in court, NGN apologised for “serious intrusion” by the Sun between 1996 and 2011, and admitted “incidents of unlawful activity” by private investigators working for the newspaper.

It did not disclose the scale of the damages.

Read the full NGN statement

Former Labour deputy leader Lord Watson also received an apology, for “unwarranted intrusion” while in government.

He and Prince Harry were the final two claimants after NGN previously settled more than 1,700 cases.

Lord Watson described the prince’s “bravery and astonishing courage” in pursuing the case.

NGN also apologised for serious intrusion into the private life of the Prince Harry’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.