Meghan Markle defends friends' rights to privacy in court

Meghan Markle has requested the court to stop a newspaper from publishing the names of her friends who could be witnesses in an ongoing case.

Reuters reported that the Duchess of Sussex has sought a court order against  Mail on Sunday.

Meghan is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles the Mail on Sunday printed last year which included parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.

The Mail justified publishing the letter by saying five unnamed friends of Meghan had put her version of events in interviews with the U.S. magazine People.

Her legal team says it was untrue she had authorised or arranged for her friends to tell People about the letter, and on Thursday said Associated Newspapers were threatening to publish their names.

“These five women are not on trial, and nor am I. The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial,” Meghan said in a witness statement to London’s High Court reviewed by Reuters.

“Each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy,” she added, saying their names had appeared in a confidential section of her legal papers.