Prince William got a 'very large sum' in a Murdoch settlement in 2020

LONDON — Prince William received a "very large sum of money" in 2020 in a settlement from Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm, according to court documents made public Tuesday.

The funds were kept quiet for years but came out now because of another lawsuit filed by William's younger brother, Prince Harry. He alleges employees of Murdoch newspapers hacked into royals' phones and unlawfully gathered information from them for two decades.

Harry's lawyer mentioned the unspecified payout while summarizing arguments for the younger prince's lawsuit. It is one of several lawsuits Harry and celebrities have filed against British newspapers.

Murdoch's News Group Newspapers has argued that a British High Court judge should throw out the phone hacking lawsuits because the claims were brought too late, according to The Associated Press.

But Prince Harry cited a "secret agreement" between the royal family and the newspapers as preventing him from bringing his case — an agreement the publisher denied, the AP reported.

The news comes after a case in the United States in which another major part of Murdoch's media empire — Fox News — agreed to pay $787.5 million in a settlement with election tech company Dominion Voting Systems.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.