Prince Harry’s lawyers have alleged Prince William settled a historic phone-hacking case “behind the scenes” three years ago.

As part of a High Court hearing held in London on Tuesday, legal representatives for the British royal submitted documents in which they claimed Harry’s older brother William, 40, had already reached an agreement to be paid “a huge sum of money in 2020” by leaders at Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN).

Harry is suing NGN bosses in relation to alleged phone-hacking committed by reporters at The Sun and now-defunct News of the World tabloid newspapers between the mid-1990s and 2016.

“In responding to this bid by NGN to prevent his claims going to trial, the claimant has had to make public the details of this secret agreement, as well as the fact that his brother, His Royal Highness, Prince William, has recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes,” the Duke of Sussex’s lawyers stated, according to Reuters.

In addition, they claimed that Harry hadn’t taken legal action against NGN before due to an alleged deal between the newspaper’s owners and Buckingham Palace officials where members of the royal family agreed not to bring lawsuits until other cases over alleged phone hacking were resolved.

Representatives for NGN argued that Harry, 38, left it too late to make a claim. They have denied all allegations outlined in the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for William declined to comment on the case on Tuesday.

– Cover Media