In October, news broke that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would be taking legal action against The Mail on Sunday and its parent company, Associated Newspapers, after the outlet “unlawfully” published a private letter written by Markle to her father Thomas Markle. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex allege it was published with the purpose to be “intentionally destructive.” But now, records show that there’s a whole lot more to the lawsuit than previously thought.
As reported by Byline Investigates, court papers show that Markle believes The Mail lied to readers about publishing the “full” content of the letter and omitted key passages that would “undermine” the outlet’s “negative” portrayal of the duchess.
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And now, as the papers show, it’s clear the suit also alleges that The Mail has published not just that private letter, but a slew of “untrue” news stories in an attempt to damage the duchess’s reputation.
Markle’s team is raising questions about the outlet’s journalism and ethics based on its “untruthful” reports of the royal couple’s purchase of a £5,000 copper bath, £500,000 on soundproofing, and the construction of a new wing of their home, all using taxpayer money.
Furthermore, Markle raises concerns about the “deliberately inflammatory” story that linked her liking of avocado toast to “murder” and “human rights” abuses. (This story was titled, “How Meghan’s favourite avocado snack—beloved of all millennials—is fuelling human rights abuses, drought and murder.” That’s real.). Plus, there’s another article that connected her support of a community kitchen project to terrorists. (“Kitchen supported by Meghan’s cookbook is housed inside mosque ‘which has links to 19 terror suspects including Jihadi John'” the story reads.)
In fact, Markle’s court papers list and rebut several past defamatory (and as we see it, often racist) headlines from The Mail.
These headlines include “Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed—so will he be dropping by for tea?” and “Doria Ragland spotted alone in LA while daughter Meghan Markle parties with famous friends at her $300k baby shower.”
As Byline Investigates reports, Associated Newspapers has not yet filed a defense to Markle’s claims, but denies any misuse of private information, breach of copyright, or data protection infringement.
Markle is not about to let this actual fake news ruin her reputation. We stand with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and hope that justice will eventually be served.
