Reports suggest that Prince Harry’s privacy trial against Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid The Sun has been thrown into doubt after a reported eleventh-hour offer to settle via Newsweek.
The Duke of Sussex and former U.K. lawmaker Tom Watson are suing the newspaper’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), over allegations journalists broke the law to get stories.
The trial was due to start at 10:30 a.m. U.K. time. However, rumors started to flitter through the press after an unexpected one-hour delay. As the legal teams returned to court, they asked for even more time to seek an “outcome” to the case.
It came as NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported on X, that a new offer to settle had been made, posting: “There has been a massive offer from Murdoch’s camp to resolve the hacking suits from Prince Harry and former MP Tom Watson, according to a person with knowledge.”
Prince Harry’s lawsuit was filed almost six years ago at the end of September 2019 and it is a grudge match for the duke. He has aimed to drag big names from the world of British tabloid journalism into the case. He has also blamed journalists for the collapse of his past relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, as well as for heaping pressure on his marriage to Meghan Markle.
