LONDON (UK) – According to London High Court documents filed as part of legal action against a tabloid, Duchess of Sussex Meghan felt “unprotected” by the British royal family while she was pregnant.
The wife of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles its Mail on Sunday newspaper carried in 2019. It included parts of Meghan’s handwritten letter to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.
Markle and Meghan have not been on speaking terms ever since he failed to attend her wedding in May 2018. This was after he had a heart surgery.
On the other hand, the Mail justified that it published the letter after five friends of Meghan had revealed her version of the events to the People magazine in the US.
Meghan’s lawyers say she had neither given permission nor arranged for her friends to speak to People about the letter.
“The Claimant had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the UK tabloid media, specifically by the Defendant, which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health,” her lawyers said in court.
“As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited from defending herself.”
The couple now lives in Los Angeles in the US after relinquishing royal duties by end of March. While Harry said he had rifts with his elder brother, Prince William, Meghan said she did not get support when pregnant.
The trial of the case is not likely to be held this year. In May, the judge dismissed part of her claim that the tabloid had acted dishonestly, intensifying the rift with her father.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.