Meghan Markle, reportedly, didn't feel protected by the royal family when she was pregnant and receiving bad press from the British tabloid media. The Duchess of Sussex revealed this detail in the court documents she filed in her lawsuit against the Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the owner of Daily Mail.
According to reports, friends of the Duchess of Sussex were concerned for her wellbeing amid the bashing she got from the press, especially when she was pregnant with her first baby with Prince Harry. Meghan apparently told the court in the documents her legal team submitted that she felt Kensington Palace silenced her and prevented her from defending herself.
Meghan apparently wanted to refute claims that she and Prince Harry have a rift with Prince William and Kate or that she felt her father, Thomas Markle, victimized her. Instead, five of her friends granted an anonymous interview with People in her defense as she wasn't able to speak for herself.
The Duchess of Sussex have also named these five friends as A, B, C, D and E in the court documents. Reports stated that they might be called in court to help shed light on the case.
Meghan's lawsuit against ANL stemmed from when Daily Mail published parts of a letter she wrote to Thomas before her wedding to Prince Harry, citing breach of privacy. The Duchess of Sussex alleged that the Daily Mail printed a skewed version of the letter to put her in a bad light.
She said in the court documents that she was concerned her father was being manipulated by the press and tried to convince him not to speak to the media anymore. Meghan said that the letter she wrote to Thomas was not an attempt at reconciliation but it was intended to make him stop talking to the press, which has kept printing damaging stories about her and affecting her mental health.
But on May 1, Justice Warby ordered to strike out part of Meghan's claims that the press has a malicious agenda against her. The judge said any party must not bring allegations of dishonesty unless there was credible material to support such allegations.
Meghan claimed that the Daily Mail is but one of the tabloid journals "deliberately seeking to dig or stir up issues" between her and her father. The judge sees that parts of the claim were irrelevant to the case.
The High Court also gave Meghan and Prince Harry the chance to settle this case out of court to save cost of having to set up an online hearing. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, reportedly, refused this offer and will shoulder the excess of £50,000, the estimated cost of the online litigation. Meghan's full trial against Daily Mail is set to start either late 2020 or early 2021.
