‘Palace four’ could shed light on Meghan’s letter to dad, court told
FOUR ex-employees of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have evidence which could clarify issues around Meghan’s letter to her estranged father, the High Court has been told.
Meghan (39) is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and Mailonline over five articles in February 2019 which reproduced “extensive extracts” from the handwritten letter sent to 76-year-old Thomas Markle.
The duchess sent the “heartfelt” message to her father’s home in Mexico “via a trusted contact” in 2018 in order to “minimise the risk of interception”, the High Court previously heard.
Meghan’s lawyers say the publication of the letter was “self-evidently... highly intrusive”, describing it as “a triple-barrelled invasion of her privacy rights”.
Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) claims Meghan wrote the letter “with a view to it being disclosed publicly at some future point” in order to “defend her against charges of being an uncaring or unloving daughter”.
She is seeking damages from ANL for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act, and says ANL has “no prospect” of defending her privacy and copyright claims.
Her lawyers have applied for summary judgment — a legal step which would see those parts of the case resolved without a trial — but ANL argues that the case is “wholly unsuitable” for such a move.
On the second day of the hearing yesterday, ANL’S barrister Antony White QC told the court that a letter from lawyers representing the so-called ‘palace four’ said they would be able to “shed some light” on the drafting of Meghan’s letter to her father.
He told the court it was also likely there was further evidence about whether Meghan “directly or indirectly provided private information” to the authors of an unauthorised biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex called Finding Freedom.
The letter was sent to the parties on behalf of Jason Knauf, formerly communications secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, whom ANL “believes was involved” in the wording of Meghan’s letter, and Christian Jones, their former deputy communications secretary.
The other two members of ‘palace four’ are Samantha Cohen, formerly the Sussexes’ private secretary, and Sara Latham, their former director of communications.
In the letter sent on their behalf, their lawyers said: “None of our clients welcomes his or her potential involvement in this litigation, which has arisen purely as a result of the performance of his or her duties in their respective jobs at the material time.
“This is particularly the case given the sensitivity of, and therefore discretion required in, their particular roles in the Royal Household.”
The letter added: “Nor does any of our clients wish to take sides in the dispute between your respective clients. Our clients are all strictly neutral.
“They have no interest in assisting either party to the proceedings.
“Their only interest is in ensuring a level playing field, insofar as any evidence they may be able to give is concerned.”
The letter continued that their lawyers’ “preliminary view is that one or more of our clients would be in a position to shed some light” on “the creation of the letter and the electronic draft”.
However, Justin Rushbrooke QC, representing the duchess, said in written submissions that the letter from the ‘palace four’ “contains no information at all that supports the defendant’s case on alleged co-authorship (of Meghan’s letter), and no indication that evidence will be forthcoming that will support the defendant’s case should the matter proceed to trial”.
At the conclusion of the hearing yesterday afternoon, Mr Justice Warby reserved judgment but said he would deliver it “as soon as possible”.
‘The publication (of the letter) was self-evidently highly intrusive... a triple-barrelled invasion of rights’