Meghan Markle claims victory in battle against Mail on Sunday

Meghan Markle has hailed her win over a tabloid industry that ‘conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain’.

Meghan Markle has welcomed her win over the Mail on Sunday. Picture: AFP.

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, has claimed victory in her legal battle against a British tabloid that published a letter the former actor sent to her father.

The judgment is the latest episode in an often fraught relationship between the British press and Prince Harry and Ms. Markle, as they seek to recast their image after breaking away from the British royal family.

On Thursday, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales ruled against Associated Newspapers Limited, which publishes the Mail Online and the Mail on Sunday, upholding a summary judgment in Ms. Markle’s favour from earlier this year.

Ms Markle sued ANL for breach of privacy and copyright in February over the publication of a letter she sent to her estranged father in August 2018. A high court judge ruled the publisher had acted unlawfully in a summary judgment, avoiding a trial on the grounds the publisher had no real prospect of winning the case.

ANL challenged that ruling in the court of appeal last month, arguing the case should go to trial because Ms. Markle allegedly wrote the letter to her father knowing that it was likely to be leaked, thereby forfeiting her right to privacy. Without a trial, ANL said those arguments couldn’t be fairly considered.

Responding to Thursday’s judgment, Ms. Markle hailed her win over “a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.” She accused ANL of dragging the case out to generate headlines and sell more newspapers.

ANL expressed disappointment with the outcome and said it was considering appealing to the U.K.’s Supreme Court. Legal experts said the Supreme Court, which hears appeals on cases of wider public significance, was unlikely to give the case a hearing, though ANL could still appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Earlier this year, Prince Harry accepted an apology and damages from the publishers of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, which he sued for libel over two articles that claimed he had turned his back on the Royal Marines after stepping down as a senior royal. A lawyer for Prince Harry called the allegation “baseless, false and defamatory” in a statement to the High Court.

In a widely watched interview earlier this year with Oprah Winfrey, Ms. Markle and Prince Harry, who now live in California, said their rift with “the firm,” as they called the palace, had been exacerbated by the British tabloid media.

Dow Jones