With her husband Alasdair MacLeod, she is the co-founder of the Macdoch Foundation, which funds projects focused on improving the natural environment, mitigating the effects of climate change, and the health of communities, as well as founding director of other charitable organisations.
As of September 2024[update], the Murdoch family is involved in a court case in the US in which Prudence and her half-siblings James and Elisabeth are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust.
[1][2] She is the eldest child and first daughter of Australian-born American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and his first wife, Australian model Patricia Booker.
[3] Murdoch was raised in Adelaide until 1968, one year after her parents' divorce, when she moved to London with her father and stepmother Anna Torv after his purchase of the tabloid newspaper publishing company, News of the World.
[3] After the divorce, Prudence's mother Patricia Booker married a Swiss national and began to lead a life of partying, often neglecting her daughter as a child.
Prudence, although she had wanted to move with her father and new wife, had a poor relationship with her stepmother after her half-siblings (Lachlan, James, and Elisabeth) were born.
[5] She was a board member of The Times newspaper in London (owned by News Corp) from 14 December 2010 until her resignation on 3 March 2022 (registered as Prudence MacLeod).
[3] In 2015, it was reported that James was co-founder of podcast series Clippet, which provided "short-form audio news, aimed at on-the-go 18-28 year olds".
In 1999 she gave an interview to The Sydney Morning Herald, which was published under the headline "the forgotten daughter" on the day of her her half-brother Lachlan's wedding to Sarah O'Hare, which caused tensions at the family gathering.
[3] She expressed several times that she feels like an outsider (compared with her three half-siblings Lachlan, James, and Elisabeth); that they were taller, more sophisticated and glamorous, while she is "the short, fat one".
[27] In September 2024, the Murdoch family is involved in a court case in Reno, Nevada, in which Prudence, James, and Elisabeth are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust.