Legal Documents Reveal Meghan Markle's "Anguish" About Having Her Private Letters to Her Father Published

• According to new legal documents filed Monday, Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday for printing sections of a private letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle.
• The documents allege that the paper published the "private and confidential" letter during a "time of great personal anguish and distress."
• The letter, which Meghan sent to her father in August 2018, was published in part in February 2019.

Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) is the latest royal going to court to fight back against what she sees as an invasion of privacy by a tabloid.

U.K.’s Press Association reported (opens in new tab) Friday on new legal documents filed Monday by the Duchess of Sussex's attorneys in her suit against the publisher of the Mail on Sunday. At the center of Meghan's claim is a "private and confidential" letter to her father, Thomas Markle (opens in new tab), that the paper published during what her representatives describe as a "time of great personal anguish and distress."

The private letter, which Meghan’s attorneys say detailed "her intimate thoughts and feelings about her father’s health and her relationship with him at that time," was sent to Thomas Markle (opens in new tab) in August 2018 and published (although not in its entirety) by the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline in February 2019.

Meghan is represented (opens in new tab) in the case by the Schillings law firm, which claims that the Mail on Sunday chose to "omit or suppress" important parts of the letter which "intentionally distorted or manipulated" its meaning.

"The letter was obviously private correspondence written by the claimant to her father,” the Schillings' submission says, according to the Press Association, adding that Meghan, "intended the detailed contents of the letter to be private, and certainly did not expect them to be published to the world at large by a national newspaper, and without any warning."

In her suit, Meghan is seeking damages (opens in new tab) from the Mail on Sunday’s publisher, Associated Newspapers Ltd., for "alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement, and breach of the Data Protection Act."

Associated Newspapers denies the royal's claims, however, and says that it intends to fight the case.

For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

subscribe here (opens in new tab)