While her lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, the company that publishes the tabloids Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, was scheduled to begin in early January, Meghan Markle’s lawyers were able to obtain a postponement until next fall. But why is the Duchess of Sussex so anxious to delay this potentially lucrative trial?
No one was expecting this turn of events, especially not the lawyers for Associated Newspapers Limited, the company that owns the tabloids Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, who were attacked by Meghan Markle for publishing excerpts from a private letter sent to her father, Thomas Markle.
But when a ten-day trial was due to take place in London from January 11, the Duchess of Sussex asked for an outright postponement, which was granted. It is thus next autumn, nearly a year after the initial date of the trial, that Meghan Markle will have to appear in court to defend her rights, she who is attacking the two tabloids for invasion of privacy.
This decision took the defense lawyers, who had been given permission by the court to include excerpts from Finding Freedom, the book that reveals details about Sussex privacy, in their case.
While officially the reasons for the delay remain confidential, it would appear that Meghan Markle left nothing to chance. According to several experts, the primary objective of Prince Harry’s wife is to shed as little light as possible on the trial.
By asking for a summary judgment, a procedure allowing her to ask a court for interim but rapid measures, the duchess is changing her strategy. “It’s very clever of her because if the summary judgment is accepted, she avoids the constraints of a huge trial and all the media circus that would go with it,” explains lawyer Emily Cox.
A very expensive lawsuit
While she is keen to avoid the light as much as possible and goes out of her way to avoid having to testify in person, Meghan Markle has spared no expense to wash her honour. The Duchess, who never hesitates to take legal action when her privacy is touched, has already amassed nearly £2 million in court costs alone. An astronomical sum which includes particularly expensive legal fees …
But this new blow for Queen Elizabeth II. Meghan Markle’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited has been postponed. As a result, the Sussex couple is not expected to return to the United Kingdom any time soon.
A heartbreak for the Queen. In a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited after the publication of excerpts from a private letter sent to her father, Meghan Markle has requested a postponement of the hearing. Judge Warby ruled in favour of her request.
As a result, the trial, which was scheduled to begin on January 11, is now postponed until the fall of 2021. If this is good news for Prince Harry’s wife who will be able to fine-tune her lawsuit with her lawyers, it is a hard blow for Elizabeth II and Prince Philip who were looking forward to the couple’s arrival in the United Kingdom earlier this year, as reported in The Express.
Indeed, if the hearing is postponed, it means that Meghan Markle no longer needs to travel to London. The Duchess of Sussex could thus decide to celebrate the holiday season exclusively in the United States, without making a detour via the United Kingdom.
The possibility of a trial next January had led many royal commentators to think that the couple from Sussex could take the opportunity to visit Queen Elizabeth II during the holiday season. The ideal opportunity for the couple to reconnect with the royal family, and for the monarch to see the progress of her grandson Archie…
Where will the Sussex couple spend Christmas?
But with the trial now postponed, will the Sussexes bother to come and rub elbows with the Windsor’s soon to come? Nothing is less sure. Especially since in the United States, Meghan Markle lacks nothing, with her mother Doria Ragland taking care of the family. Already last year the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had snubbed Christmas in Sandringham. After a difficult period in which Elizabeth II was not spared, it would have been wise to offer the 94-year-old queen a little cheerfulness…
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