Princess Diana’s brother praises Prince Harry’s ‘great tenacity’ after win against British tabloids

Earl Charles Spencer has congratulated his nephew Prince Harry for his historic court victory over the British tabloids and praised his “enormous” guts for taking on the media giant.

After a long running legal battle, Prince Harry recently claimed a “monumental victory” over Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper group, following a settlement in his lawsuit against the publisher.

Harry had been pursuing legal action against News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, at the High Court in London. He alleged the papers had illegally obtained private information about him from 1996 to 2011.

NGN admitted to unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid and paid substantial damages while also admitting it had intruded into the private life of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana.

Taking to X, Spencer wrote that it took Harry, “an enormous amount of guts to take on opponents like News Group Newspapers, and great tenacity to win.”

He also added that Princess Diana would be thrilled for her son.

“And it’s just wonderful that Harry fought for, and gained, an apology to his mother,” Spencer wrote.

“She would be incredibly touched at that, and rightly proud.”

Following the legal win, Harry and his co-claimant Tom Watson issued a statement in which they claimed “the lies are laid bare”.

“In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices,” said the statement, read by their lawyer David Sherborne outside court.

“Today the lies are laid bare. Today, the cover-ups are exposed. And today proves that no one stands above the law. The time for accountability has arrived.”

In response, a spokesperson for NGN stated that the apology was for the unlawful actions of private investigators working for The Sun, not its journalists.

“There are strong controls and processes in place at all our titles today to ensure this cannot happen now. There was no voicemail interception on The Sun,” the spokesperson said.