Prince Harry has secured a significant legal victory against Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group, News Group Newspapers . The publisher has admitted to unlawful actions at its tabloid, The Sun, and agreed to a substantial damages payment. Harry had accused NGN of illegally obtaining private information about him from 1996 to 2011 and intruding into the private life of his late mother, Princess Diana. The settlement is reported to be over £10 million, mainly covering legal fees. NGN issued an apology for the serious intrusion into Harry's private life, acknowledging the actions of private investigators, not journalists. This settlement may mark the end of similar lawsuits against NGN, which has faced significant financial repercussions from prior lawsuits involving phone hacking and other illegal information-gathering activities. While NGN admitted wrongdoing at The Sun, it maintained that there was no senior-level cover-up. No comment was provided by Buckingham Palace or Prince William’s office.
The phone-hacking scandal emerged in 2006, leading to arrests and the closure of News of the World in 2011. NGN has settled claims from over 1,300 people, with total payouts exceeding £1 billion. The company aims to finalize all disputes without trial, continuing its longstanding commitment to settle justified claims.
This case is one of three major lawsuits Harry has pursued against British media, including successful litigation against Mirror Group Newspapers and pending action against the publisher of the Daily Mail. The settlement is seen as a victory for Harry, who plans to pressure politicians and police to revisit the scandal.
The UK government is proposing a new "right to personality" to protect artists and celebrities from AI companies creating products that mimic their distinctive features. Ministers will consult on updating copyright rules to regulate how AI technologies use artists' content for training models. This consultation will introduce new protections for creators, aiming to block AI products that closely resemble famous voices, images, or other features. A key part of the consultation is establishing a rights reservation mechanism, balancing content licensing opportunities with protection for creators who do not want their material used. The consultation will avoid terms like "opt in" or "opt out" and will address transparency issues around the use of scraped content by AI companies. The issue is controversial, as creative industry executives fear the proposed mechanism will result in their content being easily appropriated by tech companies, threatening the UK's creative sectors. The government aims for an open-ended consultation to stimulate broad debate on the subject.
Filming for the series began on 22 April 2025 at Ardross Castle and concluded the following month, consisting of 9 episodes due to air over three weeks. Following the cast announcement, host Claudia Winkleman said, "We're incredibly lucky these brilliant people have said yes. I’d love to say we'll take it easy on them and they'll just wander round the castle and eat toast for a couple of weeks but that would be a lie."
The 19 celebrities competing in the series were revealed on 13 May 2025. The contestants include Alan Carr, Cat Burns, Celia Imrie, Charlotte Church, Clare Balding, David Olusoga, Joe Marler, Joe Wilkinson, Jonathan Ross, Kate Garraway, Lucy Beaumont, Mark Bonnar, Nick Mohammed, Niko Omilana, Paloma Faith, Ruth Codd, Stephen Fry, Tameka Empson, and Tom Daley. The show is set to premiere on BBC1 later in 2025, likely in late summer or early autumn. Fans can anticipate plenty of deception, strategy, and entertainment in this new twist on the hit series.
