Prince Harry and his legal team thrashed out a last-minute deal with Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group on Wednesday to settle claims of widespread wrongdoing at the publisher. The prince received a “full apology” but fell short of his longtime mission to hold British tabloids accountable in open court.  The Duke of Sussex’s decision to settle his claims against News Group Newspapers (NGN) ends the prince’s effort expose the publisher of The Sun and long-shuttered News of the World, and expose their misdeeds in open trial. With former lawmaker Tom Watson, Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, had sued the company over alleged unlawful activities carried out by journalists and private investigators working for the newspapers.  NGN had long denied the allegations but on Wednesday offered what it called a “full and unequivocal apology” to the prince “for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun.” The company also apologized to Harry “for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them at the News of the World.” NGN also apologized “for the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life as well as the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales,” his late mother.  Harry first brought the lawsuit against NGN in 2019 and the eight-week trial was supposed to start on Tuesday. Harry had been expected to testify for several days next month.  But in a surprising twist, and one that angered Judge Timothy Fancourt, both sides asked for more time to thrash out a deal. When Fancourt refused to allow a further delay until Wednesday, attorneys on both sides said they would go to the Court of Appeal to challenge his ruling, effectively stalling the start of the trial.  David Sherborne, the lawyer representing both Harry and Watson, alleged the newspapers had used deception to obtain medical, phone and flight records, as well as bugging homes and placing listening devices into cars.    He also alleged that executives destroyed documents and used other methods to conceal the chicanery.   NGN also issued what it called a “full and unequivocal apology” to Watson “for the unwarranted intrusion carried out into his private life during his time in Government by the News of the World during the period 2009- 2011.” It said he had been “placed under surveillance in 2009 by journalists at the News of the World and those instructed by them.” Watson, it added, had also been awarded “substantial damages,” it added. Putting himself at odds with the Royal Family’s famous “never complain, never explain” attitude, two years ago, Harry became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court since Queen Victoria’s eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, testified twice in the late 19th century.  Harry revealed in court papers that his father opposed his litigation, but although other claimants including celebrities, sports stars, politicians, settled cases with NGN, he always said his mission was not to get money but to get to the truth.   NGN has already paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone-hacking and other unlawful information gathering by the News of the World, but it has always denied there was wrongdoing at The Sun. It has also rejected allegations that senior figures knew about it or tried to cover it up.  Even if he had gone to trial and won, Harry could still have been on the hook for a multi-million pound legal bill. Under English civil law, a claimant who wins a court judgment that is lower than what they were offered to settle, has to pay the legal bills for both sides. The law is designed to discourage lengthy trials.  Actor Hugh Grant had been a claimant with Harry but he said in April that he was forced to accept “an enormous amount of money” to settle his case because he could have faced a huge legal bill. This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News: U.K.’s Princess Kate announces she is in remission from cancer Royal family pays tribute to New Orleans attack victim, stepson of nanny to Princes William and Harry Birth rate in South Korea, the world’s lowest, set to rise for the first time in nine years