LONDON – Prince Harry’s legal battle against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group over alleged unlawful information gathering was delayed on Tuesday amid chaos over last-minute discussions on a possible settlement.
The case was expected to return to London’s High Court on Wednesday after both legal teams asked for more time to hammer out a deal over a lawsuit that the prince first brought in 2019.
Harry, along with former senior lawmaker Tom Watson, is suing News Group Newspapers over alleged unlawful activities carried out by journalists and private investigators working for its papers, the Sun and the defunct News of the World, from 1996 until 2011.
The prince says his mission is not money but to get to the truth, after other claimants settled cases to avoid the risk of a multi-million-pound legal bill that could be imposed even if they won in court but had rejected NGN’s offer.
“One of the main reasons for seeing this through is accountability, because I’m the last person that can actually achieve that,” Harry, who is set to appear as a witness himself in February, said last month.
Prince Harry’s phone hackinglawsuit against Daily Mail publisher to go to trial in 2026
NGN has paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone hacking and other unlawful information gathering by the News of the World, and settled more than 1,300 lawsuits involving celebrities, politicians, well-known sports figures and ordinary people who were connected to them or major events.
Harry’s legal team has said in earlier court documents that his older brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne, had settled his own case against NGN in 2020 for “a very large sum of money.”
While Murdoch closed the News of the World in 2011, the publisher has always rejected claims there was any unlawful activity at the Sun and says it will fully defend the claims.
The eight-week trial will at first consider “generic issues” such as the extent of any phone hacking and unlawful information gathering at the papers.
Harry’s team will argue that senior executives and editors knew unlawful behavior was widespread and allege that they misled police, provided false statements to a public inquiry into media ethics held from 2011-12 and instigated a massive cover-up with the deletion of millions of emails.
“This allegation is wrong, unsustainable, and is strongly denied,” a spokesperson for NGN said. “NGN will be calling a number of witnesses including technologists, lawyers and senior staff to defeat the claim.”
As well as Harry, witnesses that are due to be called or who have provided evidence for the claimants include former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, actors Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, singer Lily Allen and Heather Mills, the former wife of Paul McCartney.
The Terra and Traveler have retro looks, a body-on-frame platform, electric power, and an available plug-in-hybrid setup that should eliminate range anxiety.
For those who remember the Scout name from the 1960s and ‘70s when it was owned by International Harvester, nostalgia should suffice for an introduction. For everyone else, meet the forthcoming Scout Terra pickup truck and Traveler SUV, a pair of electric off-roaders from this revived brand. They don’t just rely on retro styling, though, as their body-on-frame construction and solid rear axle are unique among EVs and should make them capable. The Scout siblings will also be sold as plug-in hybrids, which could help encourage adoption.
While electric pickup trucks and electric SUVs continue to proliferate, it’s currently slim pickings when it comes to serious off-roaders. The Terra and Traveler look to fill that niche, aided by their plug-in-hybrid variants that will eliminate range anxiety.
Scout’s proprietary platform combines an old-school body-on-frame configuration with new-age electric powertrains. The Ford F-150 Lightning also rides on frame rails, but unlike the Ford’s independent rear suspension, the Scouts feature a solid rear axle—a setup that’s currently not offered on any other production EV.
Both the pickup and the SUV will be available with two powertrains. The EV versions will have an 800-volt architecture and an electric motor on each axle, as well as mechanical locking front and rear differentials. Scout hasn’t announced a combined horsepower figure, but it’s estimating the all-wheel-drive setup will combine for 1000 pound-feet of torque. The PHEV models will use a gas-fed engine that only charges the battery and doesn’t power the wheels. Without the “Harvester” range-extender, Scout estimates the all-electric Terra and Traveler will be able to go up to 350 miles on a full charge. The Harvester models should be good for over 500 miles, Scout says.
The Scout models will go up against electric vehicles including the Ford F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV pickup and Hummer EV SUV, Jeep Recon, and Rivian R1S and R1T. The Terra and Traveler’s “Harvester” setups will also face off against plug-in hybrids such as the Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Ram 1500 Ramcharger.
