An email unveiled during a lawsuit by Prince Harry suggests that Queen Elizabeth was aware that Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group had been spying on the royal family and their acquaintances. The email also indicates that the queen authorized her staff to "draw a line" under the matter.

Prince Harry is suing Murdoch's News Group Newspapers for phone hacking and other illegal activities, which he claims were perpetrated against him by the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World from the mid-1990s to 2016.

News Group is seeking to dismiss Harry's claim and a similar case brought by British actor Hugh Grant, arguing that both should have taken action sooner. In 2007, Clive Goodman, News of the World's royal reporter at the time, was imprisoned for illegally intercepting royal household phone messages.

Prince Harry asserts that he did not pursue legal action earlier due to a "secret agreement" between Buckingham Palace and Murdoch's executives to shield the royal family from embarrassment. News Group denies the existence of such an agreement, and the palace has not commented.

In a 2017 email submitted to the court by Harry's legal team, Sally Osman, the director of royal communications, wrote to News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson, stating it was time to "draw a line" under the issue. The email suggests that royal staff attempted to settle the phone hacking claims with the then-queen's approval.

Osman expressed frustration in early 2018 with the lack of response or willingness to engage in finding a resolution in an email to Thomson and Rebekah Brooks, head of Murdoch's UK subsidiary. In a separate 2018 email, Osman mentioned an "institutional appetite" within the royal family to resolve Harry's phone-hacking case.

Prince Harry filed his lawsuit in 2019. He claims that News Group Newspapers (NGN) settled a phone hacking claim from his brother William "for a huge sum of money in 2020... without any of the public being told, and seemingly with some favorable deal in return for him going 'quietly' so to speak". Buckingham Palace has not commented, and William's office stated it could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. News Group disputes the existence of a "secret agreement" but has not commented on whether it settled with William.

This lawsuit is one of four Prince Harry is currently pursuing against British publishers. The preliminary hearing is expected to conclude shortly, with a trial scheduled for January if the judge permits it to proceed. Prince Harry, who now resides in California, was not present in court but is following the proceedings via video link. Grant appeared in person at the court on Thursday.