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Meghan Markle
Photo: Kristy Wigglesworth – Pool / Getty Images
- Meghan Markle’s case against Associated Newspapers was resumed and Thomas Markle’s court hearing claimed that the letter in question marked the end of their relationship.
- The Duchess of Sussex is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd for publishing a private letter to her father, alleging violation of privacy and copyright.
- Meghan’s legal team has said the letter was a “sincere plea” to her father to stop speaking to the media, despite Thomas’ claims.
Meghan Markle’s father described a letter he wrote to her after her marriage to Prince Harry as the end of their relationship, according to a witness statement released by a London court on Tuesday.
The Duchess of Sussex is currently suing Associated Newspapers Ltd on its publication of excerpts from the August 2018 letter to Thomas Markle, alleging violation of privacy and copyright.
His legal team is trying to avoid a possible father-daughter courtroom confrontation, having previously obtained a postponement of a full trial for unspecified confidential reasons.
Attorney Justin Rushbrooke told the Superior Court that Associated, which publishes the weekly Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website, had no real chance of success in a full trial.
“We say that really, deep down, it’s a very straightforward case about the illegal posting of a private letter,” he told the remote hearing, which is scheduled to last two days.
The publication was a “clear and serious violation of his right to privacy,” he added.
‘Sincere supplication’
Associated claims that Meghan wrote the letter “with a view to being publicly released at some future time” and “to defend it against charges of being an indifferent or unloving daughter.”
In his statement, Thomas Markle rejected the suggestion of one of the Meghan’s oldest friends in the American magazine People that the letter was designed to repair their fractured relationship.
He said he needed to defend himself against accusations that he was “dishonest, exploitative, publicity seeking, indifferent and cold-hearted.”
He described the letter as a “criticism of me,” saying that Meghan did not say she loved him and did not ask about his health, after he suffered a heart attack.
“In fact, it marked the end of our relationship, not a reconciliation,” he said.
Associated maintains the series of articles based on the letter, published in February 2019, which allowed Thomas Markle to set the record straight and was in the public interest.
Meghan wanted to use the letter “as part of a media strategy” and discussed it with royal communications officials before it was sent, she argued.
But Rushbrooke said there was no strategy nor had he cooperated with the authors of a favorable biography of his life with Harry, which also contained partial excerpts from the letter.
Instead, it was a “sincere plea” to her father to stop speaking to the media, after he admitted that he was paid to submit paparazzi photos before their wedding, which he did not attend.
“It just doesn’t make sense for the plaintiff to put that type of letter in the public domain. It would accomplish the exact opposite of what she is trying to accomplish.”
Meghan, who sent the letter by courier to her father’s home in Mexico, had a reasonable expectation that it would remain private, the lawyer told the court.
“We say there was no general interest debate,” Rushbrooke said. “There were the sad complexities of a family relationship, which is not a matter of public concern.
“It is absolutely clear that [Associated] they have not presented a viable case to justify intrusion into the claimant’s (privacy) rights.
‘Exciting’ readers
When it comes to copyright, Associated is claiming “fair treatment” by publishing excerpts from the letter, but attorney Ian Mill, who also represents Meghan, said a trial was not necessary to refute their argument.
He said the newspaper went far beyond what was considered reasonable, reproducing nearly 50 percent of the letter’s content in 29 different excerpts from five articles.
Rather than portray what the newsgroup claimed to be his mental state at the time of writing this article, it described the coverage, which included a handwriting analysis, as a “character murder.”
“It wasn’t about his state of mind when the letter was written, it was about his state of mind as a person … It’s about turning readers on, digging at my client’s expense,” he added.
Meghan and Harry, who resigned their front-line royal duties in March last year citing media intrusion, are waging an increasingly public war with some media outlets.
Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and son of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has filed separate cases against two other British tabloid publishers for alleged phone hacking.
The couple now live with their young son Archie in the United States and have created a charitable foundation.
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