Meghan Markle Gets Apology From Daily Mail After Winning Lawsuit

Meghan Markle (Instagram)

Meghan Markle received a front-page apology this weekend from the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online (Daily Mail) after winning a privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the newspaper and website.

Markle sued Associated Newspapers in 2019 over articles that included parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father Thomas Markle after she married Prince Harry in May 2018.

A photo posted on Twitter Sunday by the U.K.’s Press Gazette showed the Mail on Sunday cover with a headline at the bottom of the page saying, “The Duchess of Sussex wins her legal case for copyright infringement against Associated Newspapers for articles published in the Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online.”

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Inside, the paper ran a 64-word story admitting copyright infringement and said “financial remedies have been agreed.”

The story was also published on the Mail Online website on Christmas Day, with links to court rulings in the case. The story said in part: “Following a hearing on 19-20 January 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May 2021, the Court has given judgment for The Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement.”

People reported Associated Newspapers was ordered by the court to pay 90 percent of Meghan’s estimated $1.88 million legal expenses.

Meghan wrote the letter to her father after he posed for staged paparazzi photos ahead of his daughter’s wedding. Thomas Markle skipped the ceremony saying he was sick and later faced backlash for “selling his daughter out.”

As previously reported, Britain’s High Court ruled in February that the publications violated Meghan’s privacy by publishing the private, handwritten letter. Associated Newspapers appealed, but the decision was upheld on Dec. 2 by the Court of Appeal in London.

Markle released the following statement in response to her court victory.

“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right. While this win is precedent-setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create.

“From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong. The defendant has treated it as a game with no rules. The longer they dragged it out, the more they could twist facts and manipulate the public (even during the appeal itself), making a straightforward case extraordinarily convoluted in order to generate more headlines and sell more newspapers – a model that rewards chaos above truth.

“In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks. Today, the courts ruled in my favour – again – cementing that the Mail on Sunday, owned by Lord Jonathan Rothermere, has broken the law. The courts have held the defendant to account, and my hope is that we all begin to do the same. Because as far removed as it may seem from your personal life, it’s not.

“Tomorrow it could be you. These harmful practices don’t happen once in a blue moon – they are a daily fail that divide us, and we all deserve better.”


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.