Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has claimed another victory in her privacy court case in the UK, after a court dismissed an appeal against her original win.
She initially won the legal battle over a letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle Snr., which was leaked and published in Associated Newspapers (ANL) outlets, including the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline in the UK.
But the company appealed the ruling and revealed new evidence from a former royal staffer suggesting Meghan knew the letter would be leaked, that she and Prince Harry secretly cooperated with a royal biography about them and more bombshell claims.
Now a court has formally dismissed the ANL appeal, meaning the duchess will retain her victory in the case, and Meghan has spoken out in a bold way.
Keep reading for Meghan’s victory statement, all the shocking claims, and more.
A former staffer to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has made a number of bombshell claims.
(Getty)Meghan’s victory statement
After the UK court dismissed the ANL appeal, the Duchess of Sussex released a bold sttement reacting to her victory. Read her full personal statement below.
“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right. While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.
“From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong. The defendant has treated it as a game with no rules. The longer they dragged it out, the more they could twist facts and manipulate the public (even during the appeal itself), making a straightforward case extraordinarily convoluted in order to generate more headlines and sell more newspapers—a model that rewards chaos above truth. In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks.
“Today, the courts ruled in my favor—again—cementing that The Mail on Sunday, owned by Lord Jonathan Rothermere, has broken the law. The courts have held the defendant to account, and my hope is that we all begin to do the same. Because as far removed as it may seem from your personal life, it’s not. Tomorrow it could be you. These harmful practices don’t happen once in a blue moon—they are a daily fail that divide us, and we all deserve better.”
It has been widely reported that ANL publishers are already considering an appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
Claim: Harry was ‘berated’ by the royal family
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a gala in the US.
(Getty)New messages revealed in court have shown that Meghan accused the royal family of “constantly berating” her husband.
The messages, which were addressed to her then-communications secretary Jason Knauf, claimed that senior royals didn’t understand why she wouldn’t travel to the US to settle tension with her father.
“The catalyst for my doing this [sending the letter] is seeing how much pain this is causing H,” Meghan texted Knauf.
“Even after a week with his dad and endlessly explaining the situation, his family seem to forget the context — and revert to ‘can’t she just go and see him and make this stop?'”
“They fundamentally don’t understand, so at least by writing, H will be able to say to his family ‘she wrote him a letter and he’s still doing it’,” the duchess continued.
“By taking this form of action I protect my husband from this constant berating and while unlikely, perhaps it will give my father a moment to pause.”
Claim: Meghan knew the letter to her father would leak
ANL’s lawyer Andrew Caldecott has rejected Meghan’s claim that she only ever intended for her father to read the handwritten letter she sent him in 2018.
He told judges that messages sent from Meghan to her Knauf suggest the duchess knew the letter could be made public at some point.
Caldecott claimed that Meghan “was happy for the public to read it if Mr. Markle were to leak it” and even wrote the letter with “readership by the public in mind”.
The texts suggest Meghan wrote the letter after pressure from the royal family to make tensions with her father “stop”.
(Getty)A witness statement from Knauf claimed that Meghan asked him to “review the text of the letter” and that she told him “obviously everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked”.
Knauf alleged that Meghan told him she referred to her father as “Daddy” in the letter so that “in the unfortunate event that it leaked, it would pull at the heartstrings.”
Meghan has previously denied claims that she ever meant for the letter to be seen by the public and said in her own written evidence: “To be clear, I did not want any of it to be published.”
Claim: Thomas Markle thought Meghan was behind ‘nasty’ articles
Caldecott also argued that Thomas Markle Snr. only shared the letter from his daughter because he believed she was behind “nasty” press articles about him.
“[Mr Markle] had honoured the privacy in this letter until the People article appeared,” he said, referring to an article that detailed Thomas and Meghan’s estranged relationship.
WATCH: Thomas Markle opens up about not meeting Meghan’s children. Post continues after the video…
“Either we believe in freedom of expression or we do not,” Caldecott continued.
“Mr Markle has been royally attacked in the People magazine in precisely the way he there describes, and this is his reply.”
He argued that releasing the letter was Thomas’ way of responding to the claims about him that he believed Meghan had shared with People.
Claim: The Sussexes cooperated with royal biography
Another section of Knauf’s witness statement alleges that Meghan and Prince Harry cooperated with the writing of the royal biography Finding Freedom, despite the pair publicly denying any involvement.
He claims that he met with the book’s authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, to share “briefing points” from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Knauf provided text and email messages along with his statement, where he claimed Harry said that he and Meghan “have to be able to say we didn’t have anything to do with” the book.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have denied all claims.
(Getty)He claimed that Harry told him: “The truth is v much needed and would be appreciated, especially around the Markle/wedding stuff but at the same time we can’t put them directly in touch with her friends.”
According to Knauf’s statement, the couple “authorised specific cooperation in writing” and Meghan allegedly discussed the biography with the authors “multiple times in person and over email”.
He claims she gave them “helpful” written “background reminders” and “specific cooperation” on key topics.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have denied all claims that they were in any way involved in the writing of Finding Freedom.
Meghan also responded to Knauf’s claims in her own witness statement, which you can read below.
Meghan: ‘I didn’t intend to mislead the court’
“I accept that Mr Knauf did provide some information to the authors for the book and that he did so with my knowledge, for a meeting that he planned for with the authors in his capacity as communications secretary.
“The extent of the information he shared is unknown to me,” she said, according to PA.
“When I approved the passage… I did not have the benefit of seeing these emails and I apologise to the court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time.
“I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.”
Meghan’s lawyer: ‘Those stories were false’
Meghan’s lawyer has denied claims the duchess bullied palace staff.
(Getty)The lawyer who represented Meghan in the original case, Jenny Afia, has spoken about some of Knauf’s original claims in a new BBC documentary, The Princes and The Press.
Speaking with the duchess’ permission, Afia told BBC the stories about Meghan being a “difficult and demanding” boss were “false” and rejected Knauf’s 2018 allegation that Meghan bullied Kensington Palace staff.
“This narrative that no one could work for the Duchess of Sussex, that she was too difficult or demanding a boss, and that everyone had to leave, is just not true,” she said.
“The overall allegation is that the Duchess of Sussex is guilty of bullying,” she continued, adding that Meghan is “absolutely not” guilty of the allegations.
When news of the allegations – sparked by a 2018 complaint from Knauf – were made public in March, Meghan strongly denied them and the royal palace announced it would be conducting an investigation into tthem.
The allegations are now part of an internal review within the palace.
