By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Six years ago, as he and his American wife Meghan were seemingly enjoying a hugely successful royal tour to Africa, Prince Harry issued a surprise, stinging rebuke to the British press, accusing papers of waging a ruthless campaign against them.

"Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people," his statement said. "We all know this isn't acceptable, at any level. We won't and can't believe in a world where there is no accountability for this."

It marked the start of the prince's mission to take on those in the media world he accuses of destroying people's lives with impunity - one which led him to leave his royal role, become ostracised from his father King Charles and the rest of his family, and to face a barrage of criticism.

By obtaining a full apology from Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers along with an admission for the first time of unlawful behaviour by its Sun tabloid towards him and his late mother, Princess Diana, Harry basked on Wednesday in what he called a "monumental victory".

"Today the lies are laid bare. Today, the cover-ups are exposed. And today proves that no one stands above the law," he said in a statement with his joint claimant, former senior British lawmaker Tom Watson.

Unlike other claimants who accepted payouts from newspaper groups to avoid the risk of a multi-million-pound legal bill, Harry had refused to settle, forcing Murdoch's group to make an apology, meaning there was no full trial.

Through a variety of court cases, both criminal and civil, British publishers have admitted that in the late 1990s and early 2000s, British tabloids unlawfully targeted thousands of victims, hacking their voicemails, and obtaining personal information by deception.

In 2023, Harry won a case against Mirror Group Newspapers, publisher of three British tabloids, with the judge ruling his phone had been hacked and that senior editors had known.

Watson said Harry had brought accountability to a part of the media world that thought it was untouchable: "I once said that the big beasts of the tabloid jungle have no predators.

"I was wrong."

NOT A TOTAL VICTORY

But, Wednesday's deal, while a vindication for the prince, does not give him the same satisfaction as victory after a trial would have done. NGN's apology was limited, and many of Harry's accusations remained unproven.

Harry had alleged that figures such as Rebekah Brooks, former Sun editor and now chief executive of News UK - News Corp's British arm, and Will Lewis, now publisher of the Washington Post, knew about the wrongdoing and covered it up, deleting millions of incriminating emails in the process.

But there was no admission of this from NGN.

"These allegations were and continue to be strongly denied," an NGN spokesperson said. "Extensive evidence would have been called in trial to rebut these allegations from senior staff from technology and legal."

The fact he had settled rather than going to trial as he had vowed was noted by other newspapers. The right-wing Daily Telegraph, which is often critical of Harry, described his decision to settle as a "humiliating climbdown".

Hacked Off, a group that campaigns for a more accountable press, said another public inquiry was needed into media ethics to establish which reforms were needed and who was behind the wrongdoing, following one which delivered its report in 2012 at the height of the phone-hacking scandal.

Harry's war against the tabloids also remains far from over. Next year, his lawsuit with singer Elton John and others against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and MailOnline, accusing the group of phone-hacking and other unlawful behaviour, is due to be heard at a High Court trial.

(Additional reporting by Sophie Royal; editing by Mark Heinrich)