Meghan Markle’s lawyers asked a judge in a London court on Wednesday to keep the names of five of her friends out of the public domain as she fights a battle over a breach of privacy against a British newspaper.
Meghan’s lawyer said the friends, who defended her last year in anonymous magazine interviews, are innocent parties who fear intrusion if their names are disclosed. The target of her lawsuit, Associated Newspapers Ltd., argues that the principle of open justice, the public’s right to know, means that friends must be identified.
The Duchess of Sussex is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday newspaper and the MailOnline website at the High Court of Great Britain over five articles that published parts of a handwritten letter she wrote to her separated father, Thomas Markle, after her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018.
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The Duchess of Sussex (R) is suing a British newspaper for publishing a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle (L).
(Getty / Mega)
Meghan, 38, is seeking damages from the publisher for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement, and data protection breaches. Her attorneys say publishing the letter was “a blatant and unwarranted intrusion into her private and family life.” Associated Newspapers says it will strongly dispute the claim.
In a mid-day pre-trial hearing, Meghan’s lawyers asked Judge Mark Warby to ban publication of the personal data of friends who spoke to People magazine in early 2019 to condemn the Duchess’s alleged harassment by the UK press.
The women’s names are included in a confidential court document, but have been publicly identified only as A through E.
Meghan’s lawyer Justin Rushbrooke argued that the court had a duty to “protect the identity of confidential news sources.”
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He said that with the high-profile defamation trial yet to begin, the court must be cautious and protect “the innocent party who fears intrusion.”
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive at the Endeavor Fund Awards Annual Awards in London on March 5
(AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth)
But the Post’s attorney, Antony White, said granting anonymity would undermine the “vitally open principle of justice.”
“Friends are important potential witnesses on a key issue,” White said in a written argument. He said that removing their names “would be a great restriction on the right of the media and the accused to denounce this case and the public’s right to know about it.”
Associated Newspapers said it was Meghan’s friends who brought the letter to Thomas Markle into the public domain by describing it in the People article. She maintains that the details of the letter in that article must have come “directly or indirectly” from the duchess.
But Rushbrooke said Meghan didn’t know at the time that her friends were talking to the magazine. She said the anonymous interviews were organized by one of the five friends, who was concerned by the criticism that the media was charging the duchess, who was pregnant at the time with her first child.
In a witness statement filed in the case, the duchess said, “Each of these women is a private citizen, a young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy.”
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“These five women are not being judged, and neither am I,” he wrote. “The editor of Mail on Sunday is the one on trial. It is this publisher who acted illegally and is trying to evade responsibility; create a circus and distract from the point of this case, that the Mail on Sunday illegally published my private letter. “
Meghan, a former star of the television legal drama “Suits,” married Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson Harry in a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Her son Archie was born the following year.
In January, the couple announced that they would back down as high-ranking members of the royal family.
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Neither Harry nor Meghan appeared in court for Wednesday’s hearing. The judge said he would issue his ruling “as soon as he can.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
