LONDON | Meghan Markle, wife of Prince Harry, feared that a letter she had addressed to her father would leak to the press, according to the testimony of a former collaborator of the couple revealed on Wednesday during the appeal trial over the publication of the missive.
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On the occasion of the second day of the hearing in London, the revelation of the deposition of the former communications secretary of Prince Harry and his wife, Jason Knauf, went in the direction of the defense of the tabloid Mail On Sunday.
The newspaper with a large circulation is challenging on appeal a court decision which concluded, at first instance, that the publication of this private letter from Meghan was “manifestly excessive and therefore illegal”.
Meghan Markle, a 40-year-old American actress, won her privacy lawsuit against the newspaper in February. She accuses him of publishing a letter written in 2018, in which she asked her father Thomas Markle, 77, to stop pouring out and lying in the media about their broken relationship.
In his testimony in the proceedings, Jason Knauf had explained that Meghan Markle feared that her father would not respect the confidentiality of their exchanges as he cooperated with the press.
Thus, the draft letter was written with in mind “that she could flee”, according to Mr. Knauf, “the Duchess had indicated to me that she recognized that it was possible” that her father “made it public. “.
According to Andrew Caldecott, lawyer for the publisher of Mail on Sunday, the Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) group, this testimony goes against the “table which was presented to the judge” according to which it was a “completely private letter made for the sole eyes of Mr. Markle” .
For their part, Meghan Markle’s lawyers argue that Prince Harry’s wife had decided to write the letter after discussion with prominent members of the royal family, and that Mr. Knauf was unaware of it.
Prince Harry, 37, sixth in the order of succession to the British crown, has repeatedly denounced media pressure on his couple and made it the main reason for his withdrawal from the royal family, effective since April 2020.
Consideration of the appeal is scheduled to continue until Thursday.