Courtroom steps, blacked-out SUVs, fashion that screams quiet luxury and a family at war over one of the world’s largest media corporations. No. Not an unexpected reprise of filming for the TV hit Succession. But the latest instalment of the Murdoch family psychodrama wrapped up in a legal hearing.
Social media lit up this week as members of the dynasty walked into a Nevada court to confront each other over the future of the family media empire.
On one side, Rupert and eldest son Lachlan who want to ensure the company retains its conservative voice.
On the other, Elisabeth – well known thanks to being one of the most powerful women in British TV and partying with the Cotswold glitterati – and James, whose profile was built through roles at the head of various parts of the Murdoch empire and is known as a man with more liberal views than his father and older brother.
All familiar faces. But the shorter blonde woman with them? Less so.
Step forward Prudence “Prue” MacLeod, nee Murdoch. Eldest of the four Murdoch siblings who are pitted on opposing sides over the future of the multibillion-dollar global family business that spans Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and British assets including The Sun and The Times newspapers.
And also the one who’s gone mostly under the radar. Until now.
But Prudence has been thrust into the spotlight after Murdoch senior sparked a charged succession war last year. Until then, his first four children had an equal share in the votes that controlled the Murdoch family trust. But then Rupert moved to rewrite the trust’s terms to ensure favoured son Lachlan could secure control, according to The New York Times.
And Elisabeth, James and Prudence do not agree.
The case however is being heard behind closed doors so few details have emerged. So that left one far more intriguing question lingering this week: where has Prudence been hiding all this time? And who exactly is she?
With a profile far more discreet than Lachlan, James or Elisabeth, the mere existence of Prue was a surprise for many. Her older three paternal half-siblings have been in and out of the headlines. Murdoch’s younger daughters Grace and Chloe, born during his marriage to ex-wife number three Wendi Deng, are also on the public radar.
Now Prudence has emerged from the shadows. And while the 66-year-old has only given rare interviews, the little she’s said reveals a woman who marches to a slightly different beat than the rest of the Murdoch clan.
The directorial roles and a seat on the boards of both Times Newspapers Ltd and News Corporation adheres to the Murdoch script. But while her three older siblings have all been heavily involved in different parts of the empire with hands-on roles, Prue’s only day job in the family business was apparently a short stint as a researcher on the News of the World.
Then there’s the fact that she seems more than happy to straight talk to her father. In a rare interview with Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff (The Man Who Owns the News, 2008) a few years ago, Prue once revealed that she’d advised her father to “go somewhere proper” to get his hair dyed. But Murdoch wouldn’t listen.
“He insists on doing it over the sink because he doesn’t want anybody to know,” said Prue. “Well, hello! Look in the mirror. Look at the pictures in the paper.”
The outspokenness is combined with a slightly maverick streak too.
When the Murdoch family prepared to meet up on their various yachts one Christmas for a sailing trip around the Greek islands, Prue decided that she wouldn’t buy a boat. She’d rent instead. “They have massive boats, all of them,” she told Wolff. “I never feel sophisticated enough to be on this big boat. They are all taller than me, that’s the worst thing, so they all look chicer wherever they are, but especially on a boat, where everyone is in shorts or a swimsuit and I’m the short, fat one.”
This sense of being slightly apart from her siblings can be traced to the roots of Prudence’s early life. Of Murdoch’s six children, she was the only one born during his first marriage to model Patricia Booker. By the time she was 10, Prue’s parents had split and her mother is said to have led a “partying lifestyle” following a remarriage to a Swiss jet-setter. Prue then moved to London with her father and his second wife Anna, a Scottish journalist and author. Elisabeth, Lachlan and James were born and the children grew up together with many describing their bond as fierce.
Prue is also said to have been a “difficult stepchild” and her schooling was described as a “disaster” as she attended both state and private schools in London and New York. While Elisabeth, James and Lachlan would all go on to take on huge roles in his media empire, as Prue came of age she’s said to have felt like the “outsider child”. These days, she is described as an easy, relaxed woman with a love of art.
