On Wednesday, August 5, the court accepted Markle’s request to keep secret the identity of her friends who had given an interview to the American magazine People. The duchess is on trial against Associated Newspapers after publishing excerpts from a private letter sent to her father.
This is a small victory for the Duchess of Sussex. This Wednesday, August 5, the court ruled and Meghan Markle will be able to keep secret, for the time being, the identity of the five friends who had given an interview to the American magazine People, several sources like Metro report.
“This is a victory for Meghan in this new stage of her legal proceedings against Associated Newspapers,” wrote royal correspondent Richard Palmer on Twitter. The former actress is suing the press group after the Daily Mail published excerpts from a private letter sent by the young woman to her father.
Last May, it was learned that friends of Meghan Markle could be in the court’s sights. Five of them had given an interview to the American magazine People, without informing her.
All had testified on her behalf, confiding in the family dispute between Meghan Markle and her father. They revealed that the duchess had sent a love letter to her father. Confidences which would have incited Thomas Markle, feeling attacked by his daughter’s relatives, to want to publish its contents.
It was whispered that Meghan Markle’s friends could be questioned to determine whether or not they were in collusion with the Duchess to reveal that she had sent a letter to her father.
Meghan Markle, at war with the press.
Meghan Markle had managed to identify these relatives but in the public documents handed over to the court, they were only named by letters: friends A, B, C, D and E.
Only a strictly confidential appendix revealed their identity. Lawyers for little Archie’s mother had then filed an order to prevent the Daily Mail from making public the names of these five potential witnesses. A request which has now been granted and which reassures Prince Harry’s wife.
She reacted,” said Chris Ship, a royal journalist for ITV News, on Twitter. “The Duchess felt it was necessary to take this decision to try to protect her friends – as any of us would – and we are glad that it has been done. We are pleased that the judge has agreed to protect these five people,” a statement said.
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