Hugh Grant is picking another battle with British tabloid The Sun in the wake of Prince Harry’s settlement with its publisher. The “Heretic” actor called for the police to open a new criminal investigation against the Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers on Friday and said that the matter is not resolved “by any means.”
Specifically, Grant has called on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Metropolitan Police to investigate NGN, which owns The Sun. In turn, the CPS told the BBC that criminal investigations are matters that should be left to the police.
“That’s what they’ve done consistently over the last 10 years,” Grant told BBC Radio 4’s Today on Friday. “They’ve spent £1 billion to make sure these things are never looked at in court … and you don’t get proper judicial findings.”
On Wednesday, Harry’s privacy invasion lawsuit came to an abrupt end before the trial even started. Originally, over 1,300 people accused NGN of hacking their phones as well as other corrupt activities. However, going into the trial, only Prince Harry and another man remained on the case as the others had all previously settled or backed down from litigation. One of those initial accusers was Grant, though he settled in 2024.
The “Love Actually” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” star went on to say he believes The Sun and its owners are “terrified” of the potential findings that would come out as part of a criminal inquiry and how they would impact the business.
The settlement reached between Prince Harry and News Group Newspapers is reportedly in the eight figures, according to People. “[We offer a] full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators,” the settlement read, according to The AP.
“NGN further apologizes to the duke for the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life as well as the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, in particular during his younger years,” the apology continued. “We acknowledge and apologize for the distress caused to the duke, and the damage inflicted on relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay him substantial damages.”
In Grant’s case, he previously accused The Sun of using private investigators to tap his phone and break into his home. He later said he only settled because he could not pay for the costs leading up to the trial, which he said were up to £10 million even if he won. For its part, NGN has denied Grant’s allegations and stated their settlement was reached “without admission of liability.”
