LONDON (UK) – UK’s Duchess of Sussex Meghan on Thursday sought a court order to stop the publisher of the Mail on Sunday tabloid from revealing the names of five friends who could be witnesses in a lawsuit, according to a court filing.
The wife of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry, Meghan is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles the tabloid carried last year that contained parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.
Meghan and Markle have not been on talking terms ever since he pulled out of her wedding in May 2018.
The Mail justified publishing the letter saying that five friends of Meghan had given her version of the events to US magazine People.
Meghan’s lawyers said she had not authorised or arranged for her friends to tell People about the letter. They said on Thursday that Associated Newspapers were threatening to publish their names.
“These five women are not on trial, and nor am I. The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial,” Meghan said in a witness statement to London’s High Court.
“Each of these women is a private citizen… and each has a basic right to privacy,” she added, saying their names had appeared in a confidential section of her legal papers.
The tabloid spokesman said the publication had “no intention” of revealing the names this weekend, but said it had told Meghan’s lawyers that the question of their confidentiality should be considered by the court.
“Their evidence is at the heart of the case and we see no reason why their identities should be kept secret,” he said.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field
