This archive report was first published on 2 July 2020.
Meghan Markle Claims She Was Unprotected by Royal Family While Pregnant ¶
Published on July 2, 2020
Meghan Markle has claimed she felt 'unprotected' by the Royal Family from false and damaging articles while pregnant. The Duchess of Sussex is taking legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited over its publication of a private letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle.
According to court documents, Meghan's lawyer stated that she had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles in UK newspapers, specifically by Associated Newspapers titles, which caused 'tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health'. The documents added that Meghan was 'unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited from defending herself' during her pregnancy.
Meghan is suing the publisher over five articles - two in the Mail on Sunday and three on MailOnline - which were published in February 2019 and reproduced parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her dad in August 2018. The court documents also show that Meghan has identified five friends who gave an interview to People Magazine about the letter.
MailOnline reports that Meghan said she 'did not know about the interview having been given, and only found out about it, and any reference to the Letter, after the People magazine article was published'. The court documents also claim that the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan raised Sh133 million (£1 billion) in tourist revenue, although this figure has been previously refuted by consulting firm Brand Finance.
After a judge ruled that certain allegations in Meghan's case should not form part of her case at this stage, Meghan released a statement saying that 'the core elements of this case do not change and will continue to move forward'. She added that 'the duchess' rights were violated; the legal boundaries around privacy were crossed', and that 'the extremes to which the Mail on Sunday used distortive, manipulative, and dishonest tactics to target the Duchess of Sussex have been put on full display'.
