Meghan Markle to ‘make her own way’ says Angela Levin
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Meghan Markle should be “very worried” about the lawsuit brought about by her half-sister, according to a royal expert. Tom Bower, author of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, gave his take on the issue.
Samantha Markle, Meghan’s estranged half-sister, is suing the Duchess for “defamation and injurious falsehoods” including claims in her 2021 bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview that she was an “only child”.
On Tuesday, a judge rejected a move to stop Meghan and Harry giving evidence in the case.
“If I was Meghan, I’d be, undoubtfully, very worried tonight. What the judge decided was that Samantha Markle’s action for libel, defamation against Meghan – she’s, of course, the half-sister of Meghan – has got to go to depositions,” Mr Bower told Dan Wootton on GB News.
A deposition is a formal testimony given by someone involved in a case which can be given outside of court, but still under oath.
Mr Bower continued: “The judge did not say the case would be thrown out, only that some of the questions may be withdrawn.
“What that really means is that Meghan is going to have to answer all of Samantha’s questions, from her lawyers, on whether she lied about Samantha, about Thomas Markle in her notorious interview with Oprah Winfrey. That is a major breakthrough.”
Meghan filed a motion in September of last year to stop the depositions, however, presiding judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell dismissed the motion.
She said: “[The motion] does not show that unusual circumstances justify the requested stay, or that prejudice or an undue burden will result if the Court does not impose a stay. Defendant Markle does not satisfy the high standard required to stay discovery pending the resolution of a dispositive motion.”
This means that Meghan and Prince Harry will potentially have to give depositions ahead of an eventual trial for the suit.
“Meghan really has a problem, because, until today, her lawyers have been saying ‘this is so ridiculous we refuse to even engage with Samantha Markle’, they’ve stonewalled. Now, at the moment, they are going to be forced to,” Mr Bower added.
The court papers for the civil case show that Samantha Markle alleges Meghan exposed her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale”. She also alleges Meghan misrepresented their relationship when the Duchess was growing up.
The documents claim Meghan gave the impression they were “virtual strangers” and that Samantha had “no relationship whatsoever with her sister Meghan.”
They also alleged Meghan pursued a “false rags-to-royalty” narrative by claiming childhood hardship which damaged Samantha and Thomas Markle’s “reputation and credibility”.
The case was first lodged in March 2022 with Samantha Markle seeking $75,000 (£62,000) in damages.
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