Meghan Markle Made a Personal Statement After Winning Her Case Against British Tabloids

Legal papers filed on November 11, 2019, illuminate what specific rumors Markle is taking issue with. According to People, Markle’s legal team is taking Mail on Sunday to task for reporting that her and Prince Harry’s Frogmore Cottage home includes a $6,500 copper bathtub, $650,000 of aircraft soundproofing, a self-contained yoga studio, an orangery, a tennis court, and a guest wing for Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland. The documents accuse Mail on Sunday and its parent company for printing “untrue” stories in an attempt to paint the Duchess of Sussex in a “negative” light.

These legal papers also confirm Markle is taking action against Mail on Sunday for printing contents of a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas. “The omitted or suppressed parts of the letter amount to almost half of the actual contents,” the documents say, per People. “The omitted parts demonstrate the claimant’s care for her father and others, as well as her concern about the U.K. tabloid media exploiting her father.”

Other rumors Markle debunks in the documents: that her mother wasn’t invited to her New York City baby shower and that said shower included a guest list of only new friends. “The baby shower (which actually cost a tiny fraction of the $300k falsely stated in the article) was organized and hosted by one of her best friends from university,” the court papers read. “The 15 guests who attended the shower were close friends and included long-term friendships, some of which had existed for over 20 years.”

According to People, Mail on Sunday planned to fight Markle’s lawsuit “with vigor.”

We don’t know a lot of details about Harry’s case as of now, but it dates back to a major phone-hacking scandal by the Sun and the now defunct News of the World that involved a number of members of the royal family as well as other celebrities in Britain. “We confirm that a claim has been issued by the Duke of Sussex,” a spokesperson for News Group Newspapers told the BBC in a statement. “We have no further comment to make at the current time.”

Why now?

People reports that Harry is worried about his family. “He is looking at ways to protect Meghan, and he is worried about Archie,” their source said back in October 2019. “He wants to protect his nest, and this is the only way he can think of doing so.”

In a very lengthy statement released with the news of Markle’s lawsuit, the Duke of Sussex explained his reasons for fighting against what he called a “ruthless campaign” against his wife.

“There comes a point when the only thing to do is to stand up to this behavior because it destroys people and destroys lives. Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people. We all know this isn’t acceptable, at any level. We won’t and can’t believe in a world where there is no accountability for this,” he said.

He continued, “Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”