London, UK - Prince Harry settled Wednesday his long-running lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloid publisher, which agreed to pay him "substantial damages" after admitting intruding into his private life, including by hacking his phone.

Murdoch's News Group Newspapers (NGN) issued a wide-ranging apology and admission of wrongdoing, in what Harry's lawyer David Sherborne called "a monumental victory" that underlined the need for further probes.

The publisher apologized to him for the impact of the "serious intrusion" into the private life of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, particularly when he was younger.

The settlement won by King Charles's youngest son concludes a years-long legal battle over claims of unlawful practices by two of Murdoch's newspapers – The Sun and now-shuttered News of the World.

It also avoids a High Court trial in the public spotlight, which had been due to begin Tuesday and last up to eight weeks.

"NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology... for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life," an NGN statement said.

That included the unlawful activities of private investigators working for the tabloid, it said.

It also apologized for the "phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information" by journalists and private investigators working for the News of the World.

Acknowledging the damage inflicted on Harry's "relationships, friendships and family", it said it would pay him "substantial damages".

NGN had finally been held to account for "its blatant disregard for the law", Sherborne told journalists outside court.

"In a monumental victory today, News UK have admitted that The Sun, the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch's UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices," he added.

"The rule of law must now run its full course."

Harry and co-claimant Labour politician Tom Watson had added their voices to calls for police and parliament to investigate, said Sherborne.

There had been "perjury and cover-ups along the way", he said.

The prince and Watson, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party who now sits in the House of Lords, were the last remaining claimants against NGN. Their claim for phone hacking and unlawful practices date back more than a decade.

At the time in question, Watson was an MP and sat on a parliamentary media watchdog committee between 2009 and 2011. Both claimants accused NGN executives of deliberately covering up the unlawful practices by deleting emails.

But in a second NGN statement later Wednesday, the publisher "strongly denied" the cover-up claims.

"Extensive evidence would have been called in trial to rebut these allegations," it said.

Apologizing to Watson, NGN agreed to pay substantial damages for "unwarranted intrusion into his private life". But it did not admit to hacking his phone.

"Today's settlement draws a line under the past and brings an end to this litigation," said NGN.

The lawsuit was one of several Harry has pursued against UK newspaper publishers. He won a phone hacking case against Mirror Group Newspapers just over a year ago.

Having quit as a working royal in 2020, he is now based in California. Harry had been due to give evidence during the now-scrapped trial. He was not present this week.