Meghan ‘more concerned with the unflattering effect of letter’
THE DUCHESS of Sussex has been accused of being concerned more about the “unflattering” effect of the publication of letter extracts she wrote to her estranged father than by any breach of her data protection rights.
The claim was made in a legal document submitted to the High Court by the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, responding to Meghan’s legal action over an article featuring parts of a handwritten letter to Thomas Markle.
Papers from the Duchess’s solicitors have previously said the “true sentiment” of the letter was Meghan’s concern about her father’s welfare and his exploitation by tabloid newspapers.
But Associated Newspapers’ legal team said that if Meghan “was concerned about her father and his welfare, she would not have
cut her father, a sick 75-year-old man, out of her life for the perceived sin of speaking to the press about his daughter”.
Mr Markle is the main witness for Associated Newspapers and if the case reaches a full court hearing, both Meghan and her father could be called to testify against one another, with one report suggesting that the retired lighting director would be prepared to face her in court.
The Duchess is seeking damages from Associated Newspapers for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act. The publisher says she had taken exception to what was published “because she considers it to be unflattering”.
The papers shed light on the relationship between Meghan and her father, with Mr Markle claiming he contributed tens of thousands to her education, paying private school fees, university tuition costs and her student loan even after her career as an actress took off.
He claimed the Duchess sent him only occasional “modest” financial gifts after landing a role in hit TV series Suits, even though he was still paying off her college debts.