Prince Harry's lawsuit against Murdoch's UK group moves towards trial as others settle

London: Prince Harry is continuing his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers (NGN) over alleged unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators despite dozens of others settling their cases, his lawyer said on Friday.

Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, is suing the publisher of the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World at the High Court in London, alleging NGN unlawfully obtained private information about him from 1996 until 2011.

The royal's case was one of about 40 lawsuits against NGN, but all but one other litigant – Tom Watson, the former deputy leader of Britain's now-governing Labour Party – have now settled, Harry's lawyer David Sherborne told the court.

Those who have agreed to settle include Spice Girl Melanie Brown, former BBC executive Alan Yentob, Game of Thrones actor Alfie Allen and Ted Beckham, the father of former England soccer captain David Beckham.

The trial is due to begin in January, though Sherborne has previously said it was likely claimants could be forced to settle because they could be left with huge legal bills if they rejected a settlement offer, even if they won at trial.

He made the remarks after British actor Hugh Grant reluctantly settled his case in April.

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 claims brought by more than 1,300 celebrities, politicians, well-known sports figures and ordinary people who were connected to them or major events.

Harry's legal team previously said that his older brother Prince William, the heir to the throne, settled a case against NGN, the British newspaper arm of News Corp, in 2020.

The publisher has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by staff at the Sun, though it has paid damages to settle cases involving claims levelled against the tabloid's journalists.