Meghan Markle and Prince Harry scored a win this week after the paparazzi agency that invasively took photos of their son, Archie Harrison, agreed to a settlement.
Justice Matthew Nicklin heard the statements from both sides on Friday in a virtual hearing. The lawyers of Splash News and Picture Agency in the United Kingdom also informed the courts that it would cease from taking photos of Harry and Meghan, as well as their son, once it "comes out of administration" to potentially resume operation. The agency's spokesperson, however, told the press that this settlement does not have any bearing on Splash's operation as a whole.
On the other hand, Harry and Meghan's lawyers said that its claim against Splash News in the United States is still active, but they welcome the lawsuit's settlement with the U.K. establishment. The lawyers also said that this shows paparazzi behavior will never be tolerated.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex filed the lawsuit early this year after the paparazzi agency sold photos of Meghan and Archie while they were talking a walk in a park near their rented home in Vancouver, Canada. It happened a few weeks after Harry and Meghan announced that they were stepping back as working members of the royal family and that they're moving to North America to establish their financial independence.
The lawsuit also cited that the photographers hovered over Harry and Meghan's private residence to check the exit or entry points or put a camera by the fence. Schillings, the Sussex pair's law firm, filed the lawsuit in March, but Splash News UK filed for administration in July.
This is one of many legal battles Harry and Meghan have pursued in the last two years against the tabloid media. Meghan is still in the middle of her legal tussle with Associated Newspapers, which published her private letters to her father, Thomas Markle, on Mail on Sunday. The trial for this data privacy breach was supposed to start in January 2021, but Meghan's lawyers asked the judge to move the date to the fall of next year.
In December, Prince Harry also filed a lawsuit against the same publication for libel. This involved a story accusing the Duke of Sussex of not keeping in touch with his former colleagues at the British Marines since he left for California in March.
Harry also has a couple of pending cases against The Sun and Daily Mirror for allegedly hacking his phone. CNN reported that it's unclear when the hacking took place, but Harry, Prince William, and Kate Middleton sued the tabloids almost a decade ago.
