According to a recent court filing in Prince Harry's ongoing phone hacking lawsuit against News Group Newspapers, Prince William settled a phone hacking claim

against Rupert Murdoch's media empire through a secret agreement with the palace.

The lawsuit alleges that News Group Newspapers engaged in voicemail interception and other illegal newsgathering techniques dating back to when Prince Harry was 10 years old. The publisher wants the case thrown out, arguing that it was filed too late. However, Harry's lawyers contend that the delay was due to a secret agreement with the palace, in which members of the Royal Family agreed to wait until the conclusion of phone hacking litigations to have their claims dealt with.

The court filing suggests that Queen Elizabeth II authorized Prince Harry to pursue a claim in 2017. Harry wrote that the reason for the secrecy might be due to the "tampon-gate" scandal, in which King Charles III and Queen Camilla's private intimate conversations were published in the media. Photo by Royal Navy, Wikimedia commons.