18th November, 2019
Details of Meghan Markle’s legal war with Associated Newspapers, publishers of Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday are out.
Meghan is disputing several reports filed by the papers about her and her family, her New York City baby shower and her newly renovated home in Windsor, tailor made to suit her baby Archie.
While the renovation of Frogmore Cottage includes landscaped gardens, a green-energy centre and a custom kitchen, legal papers submitted to the High Court in London by her lawyers, Schillings solicitors, show the home doesn’t include a reported $6,500 copper bathtub, $650,000 of aircraft soundproofing, self-contained yoga studio, orangery or tennis court.
It doesn’t also have a “guest wing” for her mother, Doria Ragland, to stay in either.
Filed on November 11, the legal papers accuse the Mail on Sunday and its parent company of printing “untrue” stories in an attempt to portray her “negatively.”
In addition to debunking the Mail’s claims about Frogmore, the legal action also centres on the newspaper‘s decision to print extracts from a private letter written by the Duchess of Sussex to her dad, Thomas Markle, 75.
The royal mom, 38, — who recently welcomed Hillary Clinton to Frogmore — claims the letter was printed without her consent and was carefully edited to paint a deliberately inaccurate picture of her relationship with her father.
“The omitted or suppressed parts of the letter amount to almost half of the actual contents,” says the court paper submitted by Schillings solicitors.
“The omitted parts demonstrate the claimant’s care for her father and others, as well as her concern about the UK tabloid media exploiting her father.”
Turning to claims that Meghan didn’t include her mom in her April baby shower in New York, the legal papers describe the suggestion as “untrue and offensive” to the duchess.
“The claimant’s mother was of course invited, and the claimant also offered to buy her airline tickets. However, her mother was unable to attend due to work commitments.”
It adds that it was also “untrue and offensive” to suggest that the guests — which included Amal Clooney, Gayle King, and designer Misha Nonoo — were entirely drawn from a relatively new circle of celebrity friends.
“The baby shower (which actually cost a tiny fraction of the $300k falsely stated in the article) was organised and hosted by one of her best friends from university,” says the court papers. “The fifteen guests who attended the shower were close friends and included long-term friendships some of which had existed for over 20 years.”
In response to the new legal documents, The Mail on Sunday repeated its intention to defend the case “with vigour.”
“There is nothing in this document which changes that position,” a spokesman told the BBC.