Her own royal Brexit and social distancing couldn’t keep Meghan Markle from taking part in a legal hearing in her bitter battle with a trashy tabloid.
The Duchess of Sussex, now based in Los Angeles, dialed in to a hearing in the United Kingdom’s High Court on Friday as she takes on British publication The Mail on Sunday.
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Meghan and husband Prince Harry announced last year they were cutting back on their royal duties. The “Suits” actress and her royal hubby relocated first to Canada, then to LaLa Land, but Markle didn’t leave behind her disdain for salacious press coverage of a rift between her and her father.
Markle is suing Associated Newspapers, the tabloid’s publisher, for breaching her privacy by printing snippets of a handwritten letter she penned to her father shortly after her wedding to Prince Harry.
Her father, Thomas Markle, who suffered a bout of health problems in the weeks leading up to the 2018 ceremony, was expected to walk his daughter down the aisle until it was revealed he staged paparazzi photos for money.
The media outlet — the Sunday version of The Daily Mail — published portions of Meghan Markle’s five-page letter across a series of articles in February 2019, including one titled, “Revealed: The letter showing the true tragedy of Meghan’s rift with a father she says has ‘broken her heart into a million pieces.'”
Markle’s attorney, David Sherborne, told a London judge that the note, which included complaints about the press, “contained her most personal thoughts.”
The paper’s lawyers have denied her allegations, which include misuse of private information, breach of copyright and contributing to her fallout with her father. They argue her royal status makes her personal life and family of public interest and that it was warranted in publishing the letter.
Attorney Anthony White asked the judge to strike the claim ahead of a full trial in the case, arguing that the publisher’s motivation was “irrelevant to the claim for misuse of private information.”
The British media’s focus on the couple hasn’t seemed to wane in recent months, even after they announced they “intended to step back” from the Royal Family.
Friday’s hearing came just days after Harry announced he and his wife would have “zero engagement” with the nation’s top tabloids, including the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Mirror.
In text messages cited in court documents obtained by NBC, Prince Harry begged Markle’s 75-year-old father to stop interacting with the press.
“If you love Meghan and want to make it right please call me as there are two other options which don’t involve u having to speak to the media, who incidentally created this whole situation,” it reads.
“So please call me so I can explain. Meg and I are not angry with you.”
A date has not yet been set for a full trial.