'I'll see Meghan in court' Thomas Markle vows 'everything will come out'

27 January 2020, 08:50

Meghan Markle's father has said he is willing to testify against his daughter as part of the Duchess of Sussexes legal action against newspapers.

The Duchess of Sussex is taking the Mail on Sunday and its parent company Associated Newspapers to court, accusing them of unlawfully publishing a letter she sent to her father.

"I'll see Meghan in court," Mr Markle said to The Sun.

"I wish it hadn't come to this, but I will certainly testify against the things that have been said about me.

"When me and Meghan end up in a courtroom together, it will be quite stunning for everybody."

Mr Markle said of the court case: “I don’t like doing this to her. But I also don’t like what she has been doing to me.

“Everything has to come out when you go to court. That means all her phone records, as well as mine. And I don’t think she wants that to happen.”

Thomas Markle is the main witness for the owner of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, who are set to argue publication was justified because there is a "huge and legitimate" public interest in the "personal relationships" of members of the royal family.

Papers issued in the High Court show the Mail On Sunday will rely on evidence from Mr Markle, including that he "had a weighty right to tell his version of what had happened between himself and his daughter including the contents of the letter".

Legal documents submitted to the High Court shed light on the relationship between Meghan and her father, with Mr Markle claiming he contributed tens of thousands to her education, paying private school fees, university tuition costs and her student loan even after her career as an actress took off.

Mr Markle claimed the duchess sent him only occasional "modest" financial gifts after landing a role in the hit TV series Suits, even though he was still paying off her college debts.

An extract from a responding letter from Meghan, published by the Mail on Sunday and on MailOnline in February last year, read: "Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces - not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand."

Her lawyers claim that, had the letter been published in full, it would have "undermined the defendant's intended negative characterisation" of her.

They also say the "true sentiment" of the letter was Meghan's concern about her father's welfare and his exploitation by tabloid newspapers which he should stop talking to.

The publisher's lawyers have accused the duchess of being more worried about the "unflattering" effect of the publication of letter extracts written to her estranged father than any breach of her data protection rights.

The relationship between Meghan and her father broke down completely in the week of her wedding in May 2018, a few months before the letter - thought to be the last communication between the pair - was sent.

Harry and Meghan are dropping their HRH styles and stepping down from royal duties in search of freedom away from the monarchy, and will raise Archie Mountbatten-Windsor mostly in Canada.