While Prince Harry is dealing with an ongoing phone-hacking lawsuit with British tabloid newspaper The Sun, his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate Middleton are commending the outlet for its recent fundraising efforts.
The Prince and Princess of Wales publicly thanked the publication’s readers for supporting its “fantastic” campaign that raised money for Syrian and Turkish earthquake victims, despite Harry’s involvement in the enduring lawsuit.
READ MORE: Prince Harry Reportedly Out For ‘Revenge’ As Spare’s ‘Fierce, Vengeful Attacks’ Make It A Bestseller
Kate Middleton and Prince William Thank Turkey-Syria Earthquake Relief Organizers in London https://t.co/WHaMwhxy58
— People (@people) March 9, 2023
Prince William And Princess Kate Praise Very Outlet That Prince Harry Is In The Middle Of A Lawsuit Against
Earlier this month, William, 40, and Kate, 41, visited the Hayes Muslim Centre near London to thank organizers who provided aid and volunteers who helped fundraise for communities that suffered recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. As Newsweek reports, The Sun “raised $1.8 million through its readership” for its Earthquake Appeal, which donated proceeds to the British Red Cross.
Following the event, a spokesperson for the royal couple said, per The Sun: “The Prince and Princess were so delighted to spend time with [activist six-year-old] Jess Jorden and [her mother], Esther to thank them for their support of The Sun‘s fantastic campaign for the British Red Cross.”
Prince Harry's Ongoing Lawsuit Against News Group Newspapers
Back in October 2019, news broke that Prince Harry filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers (NGN), publishers of The Sun and now defunct paper the News of The World. This, as Newsweek notes, was over "historic cases of unlawful information gathering, or phone-hacking." In addition, another claim was made against the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), who own the Daily Mirror.
This announcement came just days after the Spare author, 38, released a statement that criticized the press. This also followed his wife Meghan Markle filing her own lawsuit against The Mail on Sunday after the outlet published her private letter that she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle after her May 2018 wedding.
The couple's statement was released while they were on a royal tour of South Africa, and the Duke of Sussex accused the UK media of issuing "relentless propaganda" against his wife and himself, which he compared to a "game" that "we have been unwilling to play from the start."
He added, "I've seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."
Since its announcement, the NGN lawsuit "over the information gathering conduct of the News of The World and The Sun" has "progressed slowly," Newsweek notes. Two years later in 2021, the publisher admitted in court filings that Harry's messages were retrieved by former royal correspondent for the News of The World, Clive Goodman.
This is notable because back in 2007, Goodman and his private investigator associate, Glenn Mulcaire, were jailed for intercepting voicemail messages that belonged to a close aide of both Harry and William.
In 2011, the News of The World ceased publication. It was the center of several lawsuits from "high-profile figures over phone-hacking," Newsweek writes, spurred on by an earlier investigation by The Guardian newspaper that lead to the 2011 Leveson Inquiry, a UK judicial inquiry into press and media ethics.
Regarding Harry's lawsuit, The Sun is continuing to deny that they ever practiced phone-hacking and the publisher has not admitted to any unlawful conduct. Harry's lawyers noted that the actions of NGN titles negatively affected his personal relationships in a 2021 legal filing. "With such extensive details of his private and personal life appearing in articles published by NGN, the Claimant frequently questioned his relationships with close friends and family," it read.
"He also suffered from a complete breakdown in trust with many of his associates. His personal relationships also suffered, in light of the general paranoia that he developed as a consequence of NGN's actions," it went on. The filing added, "The claimant found the intrusion into his life both isolating and troubling, particularly at such a young age."
According to NGN's lawyers, stories linked to Goodman were published over six years before Harry brought the lawsuit to which they relate. They stressed that it is "denied" that Harry is "entitled to any relief" relating to them, specifically.
