COURT BATTLE EXPLODES ROYALS TAKE THE STAND!
Harry and Meghan’s ongoing feuds are set to rip the family apart
For a pair of people who insisted they were moving to Hollywood for privacy reasons, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex couldn’t have had a more public – or controversial – week.
Prince Harry, 35, and his wife Meghan, 38, have dominated the news yet again, with cries of “blatant hypocrisy” echoing around the world as they begin a grim courtroom battle that threatens to split the monarchy.
What began as a seemingly simple copyright case against British newspaper The Mail On Sunday – which Meghan claims unlawfully published a letter from herself to her estranged father Thomas – has exploded into an ugly legal dogfight, and it appears the pair don’t care who it drags down with them.
On Friday, proceedings were set to begin with Meghan “taking the stand” in London via video link from her digs in LA. Just days earlier, her lawyers released texts from Harry and Meghan to her father as part of the court proceedings. The texts were sent in the days leading up to the couple’s May 2018 wedding, which Thomas Markle, 75, bailed out of at the last minute due to a heart attack.
UNDER ATTACK
In the same week, the couple launched a blistering offensive on several UK newspapers – accusing them of fake news, insisting they would never speak to their journalists again and would only engage with “select media”. The move quickly sparked allegations of royal censorship.
Harry and Meghan have yet to produce examples of the stories they have taken offence to, though Woman’s Day’s exclusive sources have learned they were particularly annoyed about a Sun report that said they had sneakily moved from Canada to LA last month, which proved to be correct.
For the royals left behind after the Sussex family’s chaotic exit, it’s a disaster.
“All the good work they’re doing with the public through the pandemic – including Prince Philip coming out of retirement to do his bit – is being completely overshadowed by this pair of petulant kids,” fumes a palace insider.
“They don’t seem to care who they bulldoze during this desperate attempt to prove they’re victims. They dropped their letter to the papers on the eve of the Queen’s birthday, for goodness sake. Then, despite saying they crave privacy for their son, they tell their favourite media they Facetimed her on her birthday with Archie.
“They’ve moved to the Wild West and they’re acting like it.”
Those close to Harry’s brother Prince William, 37, and his wife Kate, 38 – whose strenuous relationship with Meghan has been well reported – are hoping the court case will expose the Sussexes for the troublemakers they really are.
“For once, Wills is on the newspaper’s side,” says a source. “Rumour has it the Mail’s got a blockbuster case against Meghan, and if she’s willing to air her dirty laundry in an unprecedented royal court case, then imagine what the biggest paper in the world has on her.
“William and Kate may even be called to testify under oath. This could shape up to be the most compelling royal court case in history.”