But it might not be revealed as the Duchess of Sussex filed a court order to stop the Mail on Sunday from publishing the names of those five friends who spoke about her in an anonymous interview. The 38-year-old mom said that the newspaper is only threatening to reveal the five pals who are part of her inner circle to “create a circus” and “evade accountability” for their actions.
In a strongly-worded statement that was filed by Markle’s legal team, she said, “Each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy,” Meghan said. She explained that the five private citizens, who chose to spoke to People Magazine on her behalf, were to defend the former “Suits” star from the bullying behavior of the UK’s media.
“Both the Mail on Sunday and the court system have their names on a confidential schedule, but of the Mail on Sunday to expose them in public for no reason other than clickbait and commercial gain is vicious and poses a threat to their emotional and mental well-being.” The Duchess of Sussex also expressed that they are not the ones on trial, nor she is, but it’s the publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial.
A royal source told Omid Scobie that as friends of the Duchess whom they had never seen in that current state while pregnant, she was concerned for her welfare. They also claimed that Meghan Markle was unprotected by the institution, which also prohibited her from defending herself.
“The Mail on Sunday is playing a media game with real lives,” the mother-of-one said. The five friends’ identities have already been revealed in legal documents filed on June 30 after the Associated Newspapers has requested more details about her lawsuit.
Meghan Markle is suing the Associated Newspapers, who owns Mail Online and the Daily Mail, over a Mail on Sunday article that created selected copies of a handwritten note the Duchess sent her estranged dad, Thomas Markle, in August 2018. Thomas Markle missed his daughter’s fairytale royal wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018 after the Mail on Sunday caught him staging paparazzi pictures for money. Later on, he suffered a heart attack.
In the handwritten note, Archie Harrison’s mom expressed her emotional anguish after the dramatic episode that played out in the media for millions of folks to witness. Lawyers of the former royal claim that the story breached her privacy misused her private information had infringement of copyright and breach of the Data Protection Act of 2008.
In the Associated Newspapers’ defense, they claim that it only included the letter because Meghan Markle’s five friends have already referenced the note in their interview with People Magazine. It was also reported that Thomas Markle handed the letter to the Mail on Sunday, who later published it.