Meghan Markle's prolonged court privacy battle with the publishers of the Mail on Sunday has finally ended.

On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in London ruled in the Duchess’ favour against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) after printing parts of a private letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.

The case will no longer proceed to trial, and Meghan is now expecting substantial financial damages from the newspaper group. A public apology will also be published on the front page of the Mail on Sunday and the homepage of the Mail Online.


Meghan wrote the five-page letter to Thomas Markle in August 2018, after a collapse in their relationship prior to her wedding with Prince Harry, an event which her father missed due to being unwell.

The paper published by the Mail on Sunday reproduced parts of Meghan’s letter in February 2019, arguing that Mr Markle wanted to respond to anonymous comments by Meghan's friends in interviews with the US magazine People.

Mail’s lawyers argued that Meghan had penned the letter knowing it could become public, an accusation she denied.

Last month, Mail’s legal team presented a witness statement from Jason Knauf, Meghan’s former communications chief, which they said cast doubt on her account.

Knauf's statement showed royal couple Meghan and Harry had discussed assisting the authors of a biography being made about the couple, a statement the Duchess had previously denied.

However, she apologised to the court for not providing the communications with Knauf at an earlier stage.

“I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court,” Meghan said.

The Court of Appeal noted this apology, adding that it was “at best, an unfortunate lapse of memory on her part”.

Despite this, the pieces of evidence presented were deemed of “little assistance” to the matters being heard in the courtroom.

“It is hard to see what evidence could be adduced at trial that would alter or bear upon the issue,” said the three senior judges in their ruling.


On Thursday morning, Meghan released a statement saying: “In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation and calculated attacks.”

“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 divides us, and we all deserve better.”

“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right,” she added.

“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.”

There was no response from the publisher at the time of publishing.