Meghan Markle’s War on U.K. Tabloids Gets First Day in Court

(Bloomberg) -- Meghan Markle had her first day in court in her fight with the British media, as she sues the Mail on Sunday over the publication of a letter she wrote to her father shortly after her wedding to Prince Harry.

Her lawyer, David Sherborne, told a London judge that the publication of the five-page letter, which “contained her most personal thoughts,” breached her right to privacy. In the letter, Markle complained about her father talking to the press.

The letter “was disclosed with the sole and entirely gratuitous purpose of satisfying the curiosity” of the Mail’s readers, Sherborne said Friday. “A curiosity deliberately generated by the” Mail.

Markle and Prince Harry have been at odds with the U.K. media for months, but the situation became even worse earlier this year when the couple said they were stepping back from their royal duties. The court hearing comes just days after the couple cut all ties with the U.K.’s leading tabloids, including the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Mirror.

Friday’s hearing was a pre-trial application by Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Mail, to dismiss part of the misuse of private information claim in Markle’s lawsuit, including allegations of dishonesty and malicious intent.

The Mail declined to comment during the hearing. A spokesperson from Schillings, the law firm representing the Duchess, said the Mail on Sunday story was “part of a campaign by this media group to publish false and deliberately derogatory stories about her, as well as her husband.”

It’s not the first time the pair have sued a U.K. newspaper. Last year, Prince Harry joined two class-action lawsuits against both Mirror Group Newspapers and News Corp., which owns the Sun and ran the defunct News of the World, for alleged phone hacking.

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