Queen, Charles & William dragged into Meghan Markle’s privacy case as she admits speaking to senior Royals about her dad
THE Queen, Prince Charles and William have been dragged into Meghan Markle's privacy case as she admitted to speaking to senior Royals about her dad.
The Duchess of Sussex revealed in court documents she had sought advice from two senior Royal Family members before writing a letter to Thomas Markle “in an attempt to get him to stop talking to the press".
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The letter is now at the centre of a court battle after it was published by the Mail on Sunday with the duchess, 39, suing the paper's publisher Associated Newspapers for a breach of copyright and privacy.
In documents from Meghan's lawyers yesterday, it was claimed the former actress "wanted to follow protocol" on how to deal with media coverage around her father - going to two senior members of the royal family on "how best to address the situation".
The two royals are not named and Meghan's legal team could be referring to a number of other members of the family.
But as the most senior members of the Royal Family are the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duke of Cambridge, the language used in the legal documents drags them into the contentious case.
The document submitted to the High Court read: “Given the claimant’s level of distress surrounding the form, frequency and content of the media coverage concerning her father, and as the newest member of the royal family who wanted to follow protocol, the claimant sought advice from two senior members of the royal family on how best to address the situation.
“In accordance with the advice that she had received from the two members of the Royal Family, the [duchess] decided (in about the first week of August 2018) to write a private letter to her father in an attempt to get him to stop talking to the press.”
It comes after court documents released by the MoS this week argued the letter was not Meghan's "own intellectual creation" in claims that could blow the case apart if proved to be true.
Lawyers for Associated Newspaper argue the letter was "copied" from an electronic draft.
And they say the Kensington Palace communications team "contributed to the writing" of the draft.
The documents continue: "It is for the Claimant to prove she was the only person who contributed to the writing of the Electronic Draft.
"Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Defendant infers that Jason Knauf and/or others in the Kensington Palace Communications team contributed to the writing of the Electronic Draft.
"Precisely which parts were the result of such contribution is uniquely known to the Claimant, Jason Knauf and others in the team."
However, Meghan's lawyers said ANL had been unable to identify which parts of the letter were written by anyone but the duchess - saying the claims were "wholly speculative and unsupported".
Meghan has also denied that the Kensington Palace press team, or anyone else, helped to write the letter.
COURT BATTLE
Meghan claims the publication of extracts from the "private and confidential" letter breached Data Protection Act and infringement of copyright.
She is also seeking damages for alleged misuse of private information over the five articles published in February 2019.
(Meghan) sought advice from two senior members of the royal family on how best to address the situation
Court documents
While Associated Newspapers claim Prince Harry's wife had herself leaked details of the letter to the media through friends.
The publisher argued that Meghan was "pleased" when five friends spoke up to defend her in an interview with People Magazine, which mentioned the letter.
Meghan last month won her bid to delay the court battle for almost a year over a "confidential" matter.
A ten-day trial was set to take place in London on January 11 next year, with the 39-year-old possibly expected to give evidence in the witness box.
The decision to delay came despite her dad Thomas warning he "could die tomorrow".
In a statement to the court, the dad said none of his male relatives had ever lived beyond 80 years of age, saying: "I am a realist and I could die tomorrow. The sooner this case takes place the better."
The "elderly and sick" man, who currently lives in Mexico, also detailed his health concerns including struggling to walk 40 steps without getting out of breath.
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