Meghan Markle ‘falsely and maliciously stated’ that she was an ‘only child’. This is why Samantha Markle, the Princess of Sussex’s half-sister, filed a complaint for “defamation and harmful lies” in March 2022.
On Tuesday, Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell denied the Duchess’ request not to give evidence. A sworn testimony in the preamble to a court case in the United States. She and her husband Prince Harry will therefore have to explain if these remarks made during an interview in 2021 with Oprah Winfrey had a defamatory aim, as we can read on CNN.
$75,000 in damages sought
In 2021, Meghan and Harry explained their reasons for leaving the British royal family in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. During this interview, the Duchess of Sussex notably returned to her childhood and her father, explaining that she was “only child”.
As we can read on the English site sky news, the lawsuit states that “the plaintiff – who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair – brings this defamation action based on patently false and malicious statements made by her half-sister to a worldwide audience, in front of approximately 50 million people in 17 countries”. In compensation for the harm inflicted, the complainant is asking for 75,000 dollars (approximately 70,000 euros) in damages.
Samantha Markle, who calls the statements a “premeditated campaign to destroy” her reputation, argues that her half-sister exposed her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a global scale”: ” [Meghan] used the powerful resources of the royal family’s public relations operation […] to defame and destroy “his reputation” in order to preserve and promote the false narrative of the rise to kingship.
“The Diary of the Arrogant Princess’s Sister”
Precisely 38 “requests for admission” accompany this complaint and are intended to prove defamation. As can be read on the website of the BBCSamantha Markle’s lawyers attempt to justify the existence of a family relationship, in particular by the fact that ” [sa] sister [l’] regularly drove to school at a certain period of [sa] life. “.
According to exchanges with the Court, the lawyers of the Princess of Sussex argued that this procedure is “vague and ambiguous”. Meghan’s lawyers said “a statement that she did or did not grow up as an ‘only child’ cannot be defamatory in law”.
In the recent documentary Harry & Meghan, the latter wanted to justify the meaning of these remarks, explaining in particular that she did not know either the “second name”, nor the “birthday date” of the one who wrote in 2021 The diary of the arrogant princess’s sister. What rekindle the tensions between the two sisters.