Finding Freedom Biography Inaccurate and Bland, Duchess’s OWN Attorney Tells Court

An effusive biography of the Duchess of Sussex is inaccurate and bland, her lawyer said yesterday.

In court documents, Jenny Afia said the authors of Finding Freedom had relied on creative license to produce their best-selling account of the lives of Meghan and Harry.

Miss Afia represents the 39-year-old Duchess in her battle for privacy against the Mail on Sunday. Meghan is suing the newspaper for publishing excerpts of a letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.

The newspaper argues that the letter, as well as photographs and other personal information appear in the biography, showing that the Duchess had allowed details of her life to be shared.

In court documents, Jenny Afia said the authors of Finding Freedom had relied on creative license to produce their best-selling account of the lives of Meghan and Harry.

But Ms. Afia called many of the book’s intimate anecdotes “extremely nondescript and / or I understand they are the product of creative license and / or inaccurate.”

As an example, he said the book detailed the duchess’s ‘hygiene and bath routines’ while on vacation in Botswana.

Finding Freedom says the couple stayed at the Meno A Kwena safari camp on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans national park.

But Miss Afia said that Meghan “has never visited or been on safari in the Makgadikgadi Pans” and that the couple “have never been together in Meno A Kwena, only the Duke of Sussex.”

An account of their first date included what they drank – a beer for him, a Martini for her – what they talked about and whether or not they kissed along with the content of their follow-up text messages. Miss Afia insisted that the account in the book was incorrect.

He provided a long list of other alleged inaccuracies as part of a witness statement for the Superior Court case. The authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, claim to have spoken to 100 sources “close” to the couple and the couple themselves.

Lawyers for the Mail on Sunday told the court that Meghan “ does not object to the details … being released publicly, as long as such disclosure is expressed in favorable and flattering terms. ”

They told the court on Monday there were details in the book that could only have come from Harry and Meghan themselves. In response, Ms. Afia’s witness statement presented examples of errors in the book that she claimed showed that there was no collusion between royalty and the authors.

He said that many alleged ideas had simply been copied from public sources such as newspapers, social media and television.

Quotes about the couple’s first date, like Harry thinking, ‘I’m really going to have to improve my game here,’ were taken from their engagement interview on BBC1 in November 2017.

Big seller: Finding Freedom

A passage on Harry’s feelings after the birth of his son Archie appears to be the product of creative license, Miss Afia said.

The book says the duke texted his father with details of the birth, but the lawyer said: “I understand it is widely known that the Prince of Wales does not have a mobile phone.”

He also dismisses a description of Meghan calling a friend on FaceTime from the bathroom and talking about sending a ‘final message’ to her father. Miss Afia said this was wrong because it wasn’t the last time Meghan had texted Thomas Markle.

A story by Harry, 36, when he met his future mother-in-law Doria Ragland in Los Angeles, where they enjoyed the ‘most delicious sashimi’, was again based on the authors’ creative license, according to Miss Afia.

She added: ‘I understand that the Duke of Sussex did not actually meet Meghan’s mother for the first time in Los Angeles. In fact, the first time she and the Duchess were together in Los Angeles was in 2020 when they moved in with their son. ”

Meghan has denied having “collaborated” with Scobie and Miss Durand, who say they did not interview the couple directly.