MEGHAN Markle today declared “I’m not on trial” as she launched a bid to ban the “vicious” naming of pals who gave an explosive interview with a US magazine.
The Duchess of Sussex has denied giving the five friends permission to speak to People magazine in an attempt to defend her.
The five close friends of the duchess were interviewed but not named in a People magazine article – something Meghan insists she was not involved with.
The interview revealed that Meghan, 38, had written a letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle.
The letter was then published by the Mail on Sunday – with Meghan now suing its publisher Associated Newspapers for breaching her privacy.
The newspaper has denied the allegations, saying Mr Markle wanted its content published to correct any false impression her friends had given about what it contained when they gave their magazine interviews.
And while Meghan said she had not given her friends permission to speak out in the US interview, she today hit out at the prospect of them being named.
In a witness statement submitted as part of the application the duchess said: “These five women are not on trial, and nor am I. The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial.
“It is this publisher that acted unlawfully and is attempting to evade accountability; to create a circus and distract from the point of this case – that the Mail on Sunday unlawfully published my private letter.
“Each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy.
“Both the Mail on Sunday and the court system have their names on a confidential schedule, but for the Mail on Sunday to expose them in the public domain for no reason other than clickbait and commercial gain is vicious and poses a threat to their emotional and mental wellbeing.”
Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry are now living in the US after quitting the Royal Family earlier this year.
Documents filed by Meghan’s lawyers in the High Court recently revealed she felt she had been left “unprotected” by the Royal Family while pregnant with son Archie.
Meghan has also claimed she was the subject of a number of damaging and distressing articles, with Kensington Palace ordering her to say nothing but “no comment”.
Her legal document stated: “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.”
The Duchess recently “cut ties” with her friend Jessica Mulroney after she became caught up in a race row.
The pair had been friends for years, ever since they met in Canada when Mulroney, 40, introduced the then TV star to Toronto’s social set.
Mulroney became embroiled in a war of words with lifestyle blogger Sasha Exeter, who claimed Mulroney had taken offence to her ‘generic call to action’ asking white influencers to speak out amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/royal/windsor-castle-will-reopen-to-tourists-on-july-23-as-the-queen-tries-to-recoup-millions-of-pounds-lost-during-lockdown/
