- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced Sunday that they were expecting another child.
- Meghan actually dropped a major hint about her pregnancy last October, when she requested the postponement of a court date in her privacy battle over the publication of a letter to her father.
- The Duchess of Sussex won the court case against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry delighted fans on Valentine's Day with the news they were expecting another child—but the most observant Sussex followers most likely saw the happy announcement coming, thanks to a major clue the Duchess of Sussex shared last year.
Last week, Meghan won her court battle against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, over their publication of parts of a personal letter she wrote to her father in 2018. The case was prevented from going to trial after Meghan's lawyers successfully requested summary judgement, which saw Associated Newspapers' defense dismissed.
If the judge, Mr Justice Warby, hadn't granted summary judgement, Meghan might have been required to appear in court. The original date for the start of the trial was scheduled for January 11—but in October 2020, Meghan asked the court to postpone it on "confidential grounds," and the date was pushed back to October 15, 2021. While the royal hasn't officially confirmed it, it now seems safe to assume that said "confidential" reason was Meghan's pregnancy.
After Justice Warby found Associated Newspapers had violated Meghan's "reasonable expectation" of privacy by publishing her letter, as well as infringing on her copyright, the Duchess released a powerful statement about her court victory. "After two long years of pursuing litigation, I am grateful to the courts for holding Associated Newspapers and the Mail on Sunday to account for their illegal and dehumanising practices," she said, as the Guardian reports.
"These tactics—and those of their sister publications Mail Online and the Daily Mail – are not new," Meghan continued. "For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it’s real life, real relationships and very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep."
"The world needs reliable, fact-checked, high-quality news. What the Mail on Sunday and its partner publications do is the opposite. We all lose when misinformation sells more than truth, when moral exploitation sells more than decency, and when companies create their business model to profit from people’s pain," the Duchess concluded. "But, for today, with this comprehensive win on both privacy and copyright, we have all won."
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