Meghan seeks to block naming of friends in Mail on Sunday case
The Duchess of Sussex is seeking a court order to prevent the publisher of the Mail on Sunday from publicising the names of five friends who could be witnesses in an ongoing legal dispute, according to a court filing.
Meghan is suing Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on
Sunday last year that included parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.
Markle and his daughter have not spoken since he pulled out of attending her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018 after undergoing heart surgery and following news he had staged photos with a paparazzi photographer.
The Mail justified publishing the letter by saying five unnamed friends of Meghan had put her version of events in interviews with the US magazine People. Her legal team say it is untrue that she authorised or arranged for her friends to tell People about the letter.
On Thursday, Meghan’s team said Associated Newspapers was threatening to publish the friends’ names.
“These five women are not on trial and nor am I. The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial,” Meghan said in a witness statement. “I respectfully ask the court to treat this legal matter with the sensitivity it deserves, and to prevent the publisher of the Mail on Sunday from breaking precedent and abusing the legal process by identifying these anonymous individuals.”