Meghan Markle Claims U.K. Tabloid 'Will Fail' After Court Case Setback

Meghan Markle's lawyers say a British tabloid "will fail" to prove she co-operated with biographers after she lost the latest round in her court case.

The Duchess of Sussex faced a significant setback today after the High Court in London gave the Mail on Sunday permission to accuse her of helping Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand write a book about her.

Finding Freedom was promoted as telling Meghan and Prince Harry's true story for the first time and included intimate details of their lives since their first date.

It also included extracts of a letter she sent her father which was published by the Mail on Sunday early last year.

Meghan claims the newspaper violated her privacy by running extensive extracts of the handwritten note to Thomas Markle about the breakdown of their relationship.

But now lawyers for the publisher say Meghan intended the letter to become public when she sent it, citing the book as evidence.

Law firm Schillings, who are representing Meghan, today said the argument had "no merit," following the application by the newspaper to change its defense by adding in references to the book.

A statement released to Newsweek said: "The Court has today stated that the Mail on Sunday will be allowed to amend its legal defense for trial regardless of whether that defense is accurate or true, which based on legally sworn witness statements refuting the newspaper's arguments, it is not.

"The Mail [on Sunday] has been allowed to prolong this action and try contending its amended defense at trial, where we have no doubt it will fail.

"This defense has no merit and is in fact false.

"We were prepared for this potential outcome given the low threshold to amend a pleading for a privacy and copyright case.

"The Master [Judge Francesca Kaye] made clear that if the Mail on Sunday's defense is indeed weak and without evidence, it would be a house of cards and fall down at trial."

The Mail on Sunday will now have the right to question Meghan under oath about how much help she and her team gave Scobie and Durand.

They also said in court papers submitted last week they want the opportunity to question Scobie in court.

He has already provided a witness statement insisting Meghan did not co-operate with the book, though he does acknowledge the palace put him in touch with some of the people he interviewed.

Meghan's lawyers say quotes from the letter contained in the biography were lifted from the Mail on Sunday's own coverage.

Schillings added: "This latest hearing was unfortunately another step in a case that has already been drawn out by a defendant who uses the legal process to exploit The Duchess's privacy and the privacy of those around her for profit-motivated clickbait rather than journalism.

"As a reminder, it is the Mail on Sunday and [publisher] Associated Newspapers who acted unlawfully and are the ones on trial, not the Duchess of Sussex, although they would like their readers to believe otherwise."

Meghan's legal bill for the defeat ran to £178,000, including £139k of her own costs and a £39k contribution she was ordered to make to the newspaper's £45k costs.

Lawyers for the Mail on Sunday last week said in a court filing seen by Newsweek: "On August 11, 2020, a book was published entitled 'Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family' which is a biography of [Meghan] and her husband, focusing on events in their lives, including their private lives, since their relationship began and which gives every appearance of having been written with their extensive co-operation.

"The book contains a great deal of detailed information about [Meghan's] personal life including a number of passages referring to her relationship and communications with her father, and a section referring to the letter which is at the heart of this case.

"[The Mail on Sunday] relies on the contents of the book and other matters in support of proposed amendments to its case."