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 Meghan, wife of Queen
Elizabeth's grandson Prince Harry, is suing
publisher Associated Newspapers over articles
its Mail on Sunday newspaper printed last year
which included parts of a handwritten letter she
had sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle,
in August 2018.
Markle and his daughter have not spoken since he
pulled out of appearing at her wedding to Harry
in May 2018 after undergoing heart surgery and
following news he had staged photos with a
paparazzi photographer.
The Mail justified publishing the letter by
saying five unnamed friends of Meghan, who gave
birth to Archie in May 2019, had put her version
of events in interviews with the U.S. magazine
People.
Her legal team say it was untrue she had
authorised or arranged for her friends to tell
People about the letter.
"The Claimant had become the subject of a large
number of false and damaging articles by the UK
tabloid media, specifically by the Defendant,
which caused tremendous emotional distress and
damage to her mental health," her lawyers said
in a submission to the High Court.
"As her friends had never seen her in this state
before, they were rightly concerned for her
welfare, specifically as she was pregnant,
unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited
from defending herself."
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 The couple are now living in
Los Angeles after stepping down from royal
duties at the end of March. Harry said he had
fallen out with his elder brother, Prince
William, and Meghan has spoken of a lack of
support when pregnant and as a new mother.
They have also said media intrusion, and what
they believe are some newspapers' racist
coverage towards Meghan, whose mother is
African-American and father is white, were
behind their decision.
The trial for Meghan's case is not expected this
year. But in May, the judge rejected part of her
claim that the paper had acted dishonestly and
stoked the rift with her father.
On Wednesday, Harry said he regretted racism was
"still endemic" in society in comments for The
Diana Award, established in memory of his late
mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car
crash in 1997 while fleeing paparazzi.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Guy
Faulconbridge and Timothy Heritage)
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