Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle has won her privacy claim against the Associated Newspaper Limited (ANL) after a judge at the High Court in London granted judgment in her favour over articles that published extracts of a “personal and private” letter to her father, Thomas Markle in 2019. 

The legal team of Markle, wife of Prince Harry, sought a “summary judgment” by Justice Mark Warby in her claim for misuse of private information against the publisher of the ‘Mail of Sunday’ and ‘MailOnline’ over the letter. 

Also Read | Prince Harry settles libel claim against UK tabloid over incorrect reports

Justice Warby in his judgment on Sunday concluded, “The claimant had a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private. The ‘Mail’ articles interfered with that reasonable expectation.”

The only “tenable justification” for any such interference, the judge noted, was to correct some inaccuracies about the letter, which was in an article published in ‘People’ magazine that featured an interview with five friends of Markle.

Also Read | Britain’s Prince Harry happy despite royal split heartbreak, says confidant

“The inescapable conclusion is that, save to the very limited extent I have identified, the disclosures made were not a necessary or proportionate means of serving that purpose. For the most part, they did not serve that purpose at all. Taken as a whole the disclosures were manifestly excessive and hence unlawful,” Justice Warby added. 

Markle, now settled in the US with Harry and baby son Archies, had brought the case citing breach of copyright, infringement of her privacy, and breaches of the Data Protection Act over articles that showed parts of a letter she had written to her 76-year-old father Thomas Markle in August 2018. 

The words exchanged with her father during a strained relationship were published in the newspaper and online in February 2019.

Last year, the High Court had ruled that the newspaper publishers could also include the book ‘Finding Freedom’, written about the royals, their relationship and their decision to step away as frontline British royals, as part of their defence – a decision Meghan’s legal team had tried to get overturned.

Justice Warby has indicated the need for a further hearing in March to decide “the next steps” in the legal action.

The ANL group is yet to respond to the developments.