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Meghan Markle blames UK tabloids for sparking rift with her father, harassing and manipulating him

Dutchess of Sussex has accused Associated Newspapers of violating her privacy by publishing a letter she sent to Thomas Markle
UPDATED APR 22, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Meghan Markle has accused UK’s tabloid media of violating her privacy by printing a letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle. A document filed by the British royal’s lawyers to London’s High Court stated that Associated Newspapers had harassed and manipulated Markle's father.

Associated Newspapers is the publisher of 'The Mail on Sunday' tabloid. In the documents filed on Monday, April 20, Meghan has accused tabloid newspapers, particularly 'The Mail', for damaging her relationship with her 75-year-old father, who is a retired television lighting director and director of photography. Meghan alleged that the newspapers had misquoted from the letter she sent to him, as per the document filed at the High Court ahead of a hearing on Friday.

The document also includes 2018 text messages from Prince Harry to his father-in-law begging him to not to talk to the media days before his wedding to the ‘Suits’ actress. The court papers showed that the days before the televised royal wedding ceremony at Windsor Palace, in May 2018, where Thomas was supposed to walk his daughter down the aisle, Harry contacted him via texts. He tried to fix damages caused by Meghan’s father, who had created a media buzz by staging paparazzi pictures of himself preparing for the wedding.

“Tom, Harry again! Really need to speak to u. U do not need to apologize, we understand the circumstances but ‘going public’ will only make the situation worse. If u love Meg and want to make it right please call me as there are two other options which don’t involve u having to speak to the media, who incidentally created this whole situation. So please call me so I can explain. Meg and I are not angry, we just need to speak to u. Thanks. Oh, any speaking to the press WILL backfire, trust me Tom. Only we can help u, as we have been trying from day 1," the 35-year-old had said in one of the messages.

However, despite his requests, Thomas contacted TMZ with the statement that he had suffered a heart attack instead of directly telling the pair. Brushing aside her anger, Meghan tried reaching out to her father at the time.

“I’ve been reaching out to you all weekend but you’re not taking any of our calls or replying to any texts … Very concerned about your health and safety and have taken every measure to protect you but not sure what more we can do if you don’t respond … Do you need help? Can we send the security team down again? I’m very sorry to hear you’re in the hospital but need you to please get in touch with us … What hospital are you at?” one of her texts sent to her father read.

But Thomas did not reach out to her and called Meghan on the day of her wedding at 4.57 am in the morning, which Dutchess of Sussex missed. Since then, they had been corresponding through letters. “It was the defendant’s publication of these contents and the highly manipulated, sensational and deliberately inflammatory way in which this was done that so deeply upset her, not the fact that the newspaper published ‘her father’s side of the dispute’ (a ‘dispute’ which the defendant itself created),” the document said.

“It is the defendant’s (unlawful) actions that give rise to the claimant’s claim, and not her father’s conduct,” it added.

This comes after Meghan and Harry cut off ties with the four major tabloids of Britain namely The Mail, The Sun, The Express, and The Mirror. In a letter sent to the editors of the outlets, the couple said they will no longer "offer themselves up as currency for an economy of clickbait and distortion”, and added that "there will be no corroboration and zero engagement”.

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