Harry had presented the lawsuit as a moral crusade and a legal reckoning for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. In the end, he joined hundreds of other claimants in agreeing to avoid a full trial.

Prince Harry has settled his privacy invasion lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids as his trial was about to begin.

Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids made a rare apology to Prince Harry in settling his privacy invasion lawsuit and will pay him a substantial sum, his lawyer said Wednesday. Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne read a statement in court saying News Group offers a “full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex” for years of unlawful intrusion.