Meghan Markle sought adjournment of trial to avoid reunion with Royal Family during festive period?

Meghan Markle's application seeking  to delay the trial  of her case against  a British tabloid has been granted.

A London judge on Thursday agreed to delay the trial phase of Meghan's  high-profile lawsuit against a British newspaper group for privacy and copyright breaches.

Judge Mark Warby said he had approved an application by the Duchess of Sussex´s lawyers for the trial to be adjourned from January until "much later next year".

The "primary basis" for the delay was on "a confidential ground," he added after a private hearing at the High Court in London.

"The right decision in all the circumstances is to grant the application to adjourn," he said.

"That means that the trial date of January 11, 2021, will be vacated and the trial will be refixed for a new date in the autumn."

Commenting on the ruling, Express.co.uk wrote that Meghan's request to delay the trial could have an impact on Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

According to the online publication, royal commentators were thinking that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could return early enough to meet the Queen, Prince Philip and other senior royals over the festive period.

"As she no longer needs to travel to the UK to testify in person at the trial, Meghan and Prince Harry may decide to avoid the journey across the pond entirely and spend the festive period at their home in California," the website wrote.

Meghan, with her husband Prince Harry, is suing the publishers of the Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail and MailOnline.

The American former television actress claims Associated Newspapers breached her privacy, her data protection rights and copyright by publishing extracts of correspondence with her estranged father, Thomas before she married Harry.

The High Court last month allowed the newspaper group to amend its defence against the claim, to allege the couple cooperated on a recent book about their lives together.

Associated accuses Meghan of giving the authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand details about the letter to portray her version of events in a more favourable light.

The news group also claims she wanted to use the hand-written letter "as part of a media strategy" and discussed it with royal communications officials before it was sent.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who quit frontline royal duties in March citing media intrusion, have denied being involved in the publication of the book, "Finding Freedom".

Harry, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and son of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late Diana, princess of Wales, has separately brought cases against two other British tabloid publishers for alleged phone hacking.

He and Meghan now live with their young son Archie in the United States, where they have set up a charitable foundation.