Harry pictured meeting US firefighters and therapy dogs before legal settlement

The Duke of Sussex met with US firefighters and their dogs up of receiving an “unequivocal apology” from the steadfast of The Sun for “serious intrusion” into his backstage life.

Harry was pictured with the Salinas Fire Department and immoderate of their therapy animals, including Cruz and Taffy, successful images posted by the unit the time earlier the duke settled his long-running lawsuit against News Group Newspapers (NGN).

The firefighters person been moving to combat the Los Angeles wildfires, with the dogs offering “much-needed support”, and the duke’s sojourn was described arsenic a “morale boost”.

The station showed Harry chatting to the unit successful the sunshine and crouching down to conscionable and changeable the dogs.

It said that Cruz and Taffy person been “actively assisting successful the efforts to combat the LA fires, providing much-needed enactment to firefighters and affected communities”.

The brushwood with Harry “not lone boosted their morale but besides emphasized the value of assemblage and collaboration successful the look of specified devastating challenges”, the occurrence section said.

Harry besides met firefighters from South Dakota, who were drafted successful to assistance successful confederate California, and chatted to them connected Monday “with nary media successful sight”, South Dakota Wildland Fire said.

The duke and the Duchess of Sussex hugged residents and spoke to exigency crews erstwhile they antecedently visited a repast organisation tract for radical affected by the fires.

But they were criticised by immoderate and accused of being “disaster tourists”.

On Wednesday, Harry settled his ineligible enactment against NGN astatine the 11th hour, receiving a “substantial” payout and an apology from The Sun steadfast for “serious intrusion” by the newspaper, including unlawful activities by backstage investigators moving for the publication.

In a effect work extracurricular the High Court successful London connected his behalf, the duke hailed it arsenic a “monumental victory”.

“News UK is yet held to relationship for its amerciable actions and its blatant disregard for the law,” the connection said.

The duke had antecedently vowed not to settee the claim, saying helium was pursuing “truth and accountability” and that helium was “the past idiosyncratic that tin really execute that” aft hundreds of others settled their cases against NGN.