Meghan can keep friends secret: Court

london — Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, won a court battle on Wednesday to keep the names of five of her friends private for the time being as part of her legal action against a British tabloid which she accuses of invading her privacy.

Meghan, wife of Prince Harry, is suing Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on Sunday that included parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.

As part of its defence, the paper argues that it published the letter in February 2019 after five of Meghan’s friends gave anonymous interviews to the US magazine People.

The duchess argues that she did not authorise her friends to speak to

People and that the Mail on Sunday only wanted to name them to exploit the legal dispute for commercial reasons. She says naming them would pose a threat to their “emotional and mental wellbeing”.

Judge Mark Warby ruled at London’s High Court that their names could not be published for the moment, but that this could change.

“I have concluded that for the time being at least the Court should grant the claimant the orders she seeks, the effect of which will be to confer protection on the sources’ identities,” he said.

The anonymity issue is one of a number of preliminary matters with the full trial not expected until next year. Warby said the case had taken 10 months and was still ‘some way from trial’, saying it needed to move forward at a greater pace.

“The duchess felt it was necessary to take this step to try and protect her friends — as any of us would — and we’re glad this was clear,” said a source close to Meghan. —