
- Meghan Markle has settled her claim against a paparazzi agency who photographed her and son Archie walking on Vancouver Island in January
- Splash News and Picture Agency have agreed not to photograph Meghan, Harry, or Archie in the future.
- Meghan's lawyer, Jenny Afia, said the photos were "an unlawful invasion of privacy."
Meghan Markle has settled her case against the paparazzi agency who photographed her walking with son Archie on Vancouver Island, Canada earlier this year. Splash News and Picture Agency, which is now in administration, has agreed not to take any photos of Meghan, Archie, or Prince Harry should they emerge from administration in the future, the Guardian reports. The Sussexes brought the legal claim against the agency after Meghan was photographed on January 20 walking with Archie and her two dogs in Vancouver Island's Horth Hill Regional Park.
A statement read to the court, at a remote hearing under Mr Justice Nicklin, said, "The administrators of Splash UK have undertaken that, should the entity come out of administration, Splash UK will not take any photographs of the duke and duchess or their son in the future." A spokesperson for Splash UK's administrators, Neil Allen, told the Guardian that they accepted the statement.
A spokesperson for Schillings, Meghan and Harry's law firm, said that the Sussexes' claim against Splash US, a sister company to Splash UK, was still in motion. "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have successfully settled a legal claim brought at the beginning of this year against the paparazzi agency Splash UK," the spokesperson said. "This settlement is a clear signal that unlawful, invasive, and intrusive paparazzi behaviour will not be tolerated, and that the couple takes these matters seriously—just as any family would."
"A simultaneous and similar claim against Splash US, a sister company to Splash UK, continues to move forward in the British court system," the spokesperson finished.
Meghan's lawyer, Jenny Afia, said during the hearing that "the taking of the photographs constituted an unlawful invasion of privacy," adding that they were taken "on a private family outing in a remote rural setting and there was no public interest in the photographs."
Afia said that the day before the photos in question were taken, a photographer from the agency had conducted "a full reconnaissance inspection of the Duke and Duchess’s private home, walking around it looking to identify entry and exit points and putting his camera over the fence to take photographs."
In October, Meghan and Harry also won an apology from US news agency X17, who reportedly used drones to take photos of Archie while the family were staying in Los Angeles. "We apologise to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son for the distress we have caused," the agency said in a statement, as the BBC reports. "We were wrong to offer these photographs and commit to not doing so again."
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Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.
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