LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - British actor Hugh Grant

has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's

tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private

investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on

Wednesday.

Grant, alongside King Charles' son Prince Harry, was suing

News Group Newspapers (NGN) for alleged widespread unlawful

information gathering, including landline tapping, burglary and

"blagging" confidential information about him.

Famous for films such as "Love Actually", "Paddington 2" and

"Notting Hill", Grant has become a prominent campaigner on press

reform since the phone-hacking scandal emerged more than a

decade ago, and had joined forces with Harry in recent years.

His case was one of several lawsuits which were eligible to

go to trial at London's High Court in January, but the actor has

agreed to settle with NGN, he said on X, shortly after the

settlement was revealed in court documents for a procedural

hearing on Wednesday.

Grant previously brought a lawsuit against NGN in relation

to the now-defunct News of the World tabloid which was settled

in 2012, a year after the newspaper was shut down by media

magnate Murdoch following a public backlash over hacking.

NGN has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by

staff at The Sun, having settled more than 1,300 cases - plus

another 300 or so through its own compensation scheme - without

making any admission of liability in relation to that paper.

However, the settlement of Grant's lawsuit, which focused

exclusively on alleged wrongdoing at The Sun, raises questions

about the sustainability of that long-held position. NGN

declined to comment.

The settlement could also reduce the chances of NGN facing a

trial over claims of unlawful information gathering for the

first time - though Harry's lawsuit continues and the prince has

spoken repeatedly of his "mission" to purge the British press.

Harry and other claimants last month sought to drag Murdoch

into the case, alleging he was personally involved in a cover-up

of wrongdoing, with a ruling on their application still pending.

NGN says the claimants are using the lawsuits as a means to

attack the tabloid press and that allegations against current

and former staff are "a scurrilous and cynical attack on their

integrity".

On Wednesday, NGN's lawyer Anthony Hudson asked the court to

direct that the full trial currently listed to begin in January

should instead be held to decide whether the claimants should

have brought their lawsuits against the publisher earlier.