The estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex could be called as a defense witness in her lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday newspaper, court papers reveal.
Meghan is suing the newspaper and its parent company Associated Newspapers for publishing a letter she wrote to her father Thomas Markle. The civil lawsuit accuses the newspaper of copyright infringement, misuse of private information and violating the U.K.'s data protection law with the publication of the letter.
Documents filed at the High Court show the newspaper plans to rely on evidence from Markle, stating that he “had a weighty right to tell his version of what had happened between himself and his daughter, including the contents of the letter.”
The figures of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, left, are moved from their original positions next to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, at Madame Tussauds in London, Thursday Jan. 9, 2020. Madame Tussauds moved its figures of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex from its Royal Family set to elsewhere in the attraction. (Victoria JonesPA via AP)
Papers drawn up by lawyers for the newspaper argue that members of Britain's royal family "generate and rely on publicity about themselves and their lives in order to maintain the privileged positions they hold and to promote themselves.''
The paper also argues the letter's publication was in response to a "one-sided" article in People Magazine in February 2019 featuring an interview with five unnamed "close friends" of the duchess which referenced the letter, meaning its existence was in the public domain.
The documents came to light this week amid the firestorm of attention that followed Meghan and Prince Harry's decision to issue a statement announcing that they wanted to step back from their royal roles, become financially independent and split their time between Britain and North America. Queen Elizabeth II convened a family summit on Monday at her Sandringham estate in eastern England and decided the couple could to live part time in Canada.
Meghan was seen in Canada for the first time since the crisis began when she visited the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre in Vancouver to discuss issues affecting women in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. The shelter posted a photograph of the duchess's visit.