Names and faces
■ The Duchess of Sussex won the latest stage in her privacy lawsuit against a British newspaper Thursday, when three senior judges ruled that its publisher breached her privacy by reproducing parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father. The 40-year-old duchess, formally known as Meghan Markle, called the ruling a victory of “right versus wrong” and issued a call to “reshape a tabloid industry” that has long been the bane of celebrities and British royals. Defendant Associated Newspapers said it was considering an appeal to the U.K. Supreme Court. Britain’s High Court ruled in February that the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline website unlawfully breached Meghan’s privacy with five articles that reproduced a large chunk of a handwritten letter she sent her father, Thomas Markle, after she married Prince Harry in 2018. The publisher appealed. In dismissing the appeal, senior appeals judge Geoffrey Vos said Thursday that “the Duchess had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter. Those contents were personal, private and not matters of legitimate public interest.” Associated Newspaper’ lawyers disputed Meghan’s claim that she didn’t intend the letter to be seen by anyone but her father. They said correspondence between Meghan and her then-communications secretary, Jason Knauf, showed the duchess suspected her father might leak the letter to journalists and wrote it with that in mind. In response, Meghan apologized for misleading the court about the extent of her cooperation with the authors of “Finding Freedom,” a sympathetic book about her and Harry, the duchess said she didn’t remember the discussions with Knauf when she gave evidence earlier in the case, and had “absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.”
■ Carlos Santana is canceling several Las Vegas shows planned for December after undergoing a heart procedure. In a video message released Wednesday, Santana said he asked his wife to take him to the hospital Saturday because of an issue with his chest. “I’m going to be taking time off for a little bit to make sure that I replenish and rest,” Santana said. Michael Vrionis, president of Universal Tone Management, said the 74-year-old guitarist underwent an “unscheduled heart procedure,” but gave no specifics. The 10-time Grammy winner’s heart procedure and recovery prompted the cancellation of his concerts at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino through the end of the year. He’s set to resume performances in January. Carlos “profoundly regrets that this ‘speed bump’ necessitated the cancellation of his upcoming performances,” Vrionis said in a statement. Earlier this year, Santana released the album “Blessings and Miracles,” which includes collaborations with Rob Thomas, Chris Stapleton and others.