Meghan Markle scored a win this week when the High Court ruled that she had won her privacy claim in her lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday. The Duchess of Sussex had brought a case against the Associated Newspapers group after extracts of a handwritten letter sent to her father were published without her permission. However, royal biographer Angela Levin issued a warning on The Royal Beat – available on True Royalty TV from Saturday 13 – that the royal’s battle may be far from over.
Ms Levin said: “I’m sure Associated Newspapers will immediately go for an appeal.
“Because if you say you want to win a case or accuse someone of something, you can’t just leave them not being able to speak in turn and say what their view is and what they have.”
Following the verdict, a spokesperson for the Mail on Sunday said: “We are very surprised by today’s summary judgment and disappointed at being denied the chance to have all the evidence heard and tested in open court at a full trial.
“We are carefully considering the judgment’s contents and will decide in due course whether to lodge an appeal.”
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Although the Duchess won her privacy claim, she will still have to go to trial over the issue of copyright.
The judge, Mr Justice Warby, stated: “The Court is persuaded that there should be a trial limited to issues relating to the ownership of copyright.”
Meghan had sued Associated Newspapers and the Mail on Sunday on the grounds of breach of copyright and privacy.
Daily Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers made warnings about going to trial: “Certainly the Palace will be very very nervous about that.”
Another hearing is going to take place on March 2 “to decide matters consequential on this judgment, and directions for the next steps”.
Regardless of the copyright issue, Meghan celebrated the win: “I am grateful to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and the Mail on Sunday to account for their illegal and dehumanising practices.
“The world needs reliable, fact-checked, high-quality news. What The Mail on Sunday and its partner publications do is the opposite. We all lose when misinformation sells more than truth.
“These tactics (and those of their sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) are not new; in fact, they’ve been going on for far too long without consequence. For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it’s real life, real relationships, and very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep.
“I share this victory with each of you—because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better.”
