International Desk: King Charles tried to stop the Duke of Sussex taking legal action against newspapers over alleged phone-hacking, court papers claim.

In a witness statement, Prince Harry said he was “summoned to Buckingham Palace” and told to drop the cases because of the effect on the family, reports BBC.

The duke is suing the publisher of the Sun, News Group Newspapers, over alleged unlawful information-gathering.

But NGN wants to stop his claim, saying he has run out of time to bring it.

The case is one of three major cases that Prince Harry has made against tabloid newspapers, all alleging unlawful information-gathering. The other cases concern the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail groups.

Prince Harry accuses the Sun’s journalists and private investigators working for them of illegal intrusion into his personal life, dating back to when he was a teenager.

In documents revealed at the High Court on Tuesday, Prince Harry claimed that Buckingham Palace and the newspaper group had struck a backroom deal – which is why he did not bring a claim earlier. He said he first became aware of the alleged deal in around 2012.

He said that under the deal, courtiers had secretly agreed that members of the Royal Family would put off legal claims, and the newspaper group promised to one day settle out-of-court, so as to spare the Royal Family embarrassment.

“The reason for this was to avoid the situation where a member of the Royal Family would have to sit in the witness box and recount the specific details of the private and highly-sensitive voicemails that had been intercepted.”