Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has released a heartfelt statement following her High Court win against a British publisher that published a private letter she sent to her estranged father.
The American-born royal had sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publishers of the Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, after the tabloid published extracts of a personal letter written by the duchess to her estranged father Thomas Markle shortly after her 2018 royal wedding to Prince Harry.
On Thursday, a High Court judge ruled the articles breached her privacy, but said some issues relating to her copyright of the letter would have to be settled in court at a later date.
In a statement, obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald, Judge Mark Warby said he found the duchess “had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private“.
“Taken as a whole the disclosures were manifestly excessive and hence unlawful,” he added.
In a statement, obtained by 9Honey, Meghan said she was “grateful to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to account for their illegal and dehumanising practices.”
She went on to say: “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.”
The duchess also thanked her husband Prince Harry, mum Doria Ragland and wider legal team for their ongoing support.
“But for today, with this comprehensive win on both privacy and copyright, we have all won,” she said. “We now know, and hope it creates legal precedent, that you cannot take somebody’s privacy and exploit it in a privacy case, as the defendant has blatantly done over the past two years. I share this victory with each of you — because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better.”
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, an ANL spokesperson said the company would be considering an appeal.
Meghan and Harry have hit out at the media on previous occasions. In 2019, Harry issued a blistering statement in defence of his wife, describing the treatment she received from British tabloids as “ruthless”. He said: “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.
“There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face – as so many of you can relate to – I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been. Because in today’s digital age, press fabrications are repurposed as truth across the globe. One day’s coverage is no longer tomorrow’s chip-paper.”
Just months later, the royal couple announced they were stepping down as senior members of the royal family in a bid to lead a private life.