LONDON (AP) — 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.”
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, their fulfillment of their duties and functions, and the good causes they have espoused.″
“There is a huge and legitimate public interest in the royal family and the activities, conduct and standards of behavior of its members,″ the filing said. “This extends not merely to their public conduct, but to their personal and family relationships because those are integral to the proper functioning of the monarchy.”
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.
Thomas Markle’s strained relationship with his daughter has complicated Meghan’s entry into the royal family. He had been due to walk Meghan down the aisle at her May 2018 wedding, but pulled out at the last minute, citing heart problems. The former television lighting director has given occasional interviews to the media, complaining in December 2018 that he’d been “ghosted” by his daughter after the wedding.
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 this week.
Other royals soldiered on, meanwhile, with their duties Wednesday. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge traveled to Bradford in northern England to speak with local business representatives and with young people about their career prospects.