Agency settles with Harry and Meghan over son's photos
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LOS ANGELES • Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have reached a settlement with a celebrity photo agency that took unauthorised pictures of their young son at home, according to court documents filed on Thursday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex filed a lawsuit in July alleging that unnamed paparazzi photographers had used drones and helicopters to take illegal photos of their son, Archie, at the family's private residence in California when he was 14 months old.
Court documents filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday said photo agency X17 had agreed to stop distributing the images, which showed Archie with his maternal grandmother in a garden at the family's residence, and to turn over the original pictures and all copies.
In a statement, X17 said: "We apologise to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son for the distress we have caused."
It added: "We were wrong to offer these photographs and commit to not doing so again."
The agency also agreed to pay a portion of the family's legal fees, according to Mr Michael Kump, an attorney for the couple.
"This is a successful outcome," Mr Kump said. "All families have a right, protected by law, to feel safe and secure at home."
Meghan, Harry and Archie live in Los Angeles. The couple stepped down from their royal roles at the end of March to forge new careers. They moved out of Britain amid growing hostility to the media's intense coverage of their private life.
REUTERS
