Duchess of Sussex weighed up calling father 'daddy'
 

We haven't had a good M&H thread for a while .......

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The Duchess of Sussex questioned whether she should call her father "daddy" in a letter and whether it would "pull at the heartstrings" if leaked, the Court of Appeal has heard.

The letter is at the centre of a legal battle over privacy between the duchess and publishers of the Mail on Sunday.

The paper claimed it was written with an awareness it could be made public.

The duchess won a previous court case that found publishing the letter was a misuse of her private information.

In the second day of its appeal, lawyers for the publisher Associated Newspapers challenged the extent to which it was really a "private" letter, sent by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to her estranged father Thomas Markle.

Lawyers for Associated Newspapers Limited said that they want to rely on a recent witness statement made by Jason Knauf - who was communications secretary to Meghan and Harry until March 2019 - in their legal bid to overturn the ruling.

The court heard of text messages between the duchess and Mr Knauf about the drafting of the letter, sent in August 2018.

This included whether it should begin by addressing Mr Markle as "daddy".

The court heard that the duchess had asked her head of communications: "Given I've only ever called him 'daddy' it may make sense to open as such, despite him being less than paternal, and in the unfortunate event that it leaked it would pull at the heartstrings."

Andrew Caldecott, representing the news organisation, quoted Meghan in a further exchange, saying the letter was "real, honest and factual, and if he leaks it, then that's on his conscience, and at least the world will know the truth. Words I could never voice publicly".

And the court heard the exchange said: "Obviously everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked, so I have been meticulous in my word choice."

Associated Newspapers' legal team are disputing in their appeal that this was simply a private and personal letter - and have argued that it was crafted with the "possibility of public consumption" in mind.

They are seeking to overturn a previous court ruling in favour of the duchess, who had successfully sued over the publication of part of the letter.

The duchess had won her claim that this was a misuse of her private information and a breach of copyright.

The letter had been sent to Thomas Markle a few months after the duchess had married Prince Harry and it challenged his dealings with the media.

Mr Markle, who was said to be unhappy at other media accounts of his relationship with his daughter, had given the letter to the Mail on Sunday.

Lawyers for the newspaper suggested he wanted to challenge a "false narrative" of the run-up to his daughter's wedding and that revealing the letter was a form of right of reply.

The duchess's legal team has still to provide their account, as they seek to uphold the finding of the earlier court.

Welcoming the earlier ruling, Meghan had said it was a victory against "dehumanising" media behaviour.

"The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep," she said.

The Mail on Sunday faced a requirement to publish a front-page statement on the Duchess of Sussex's case, which has been put on hold pending the outcome of the appeal.

The hearing is due to end on Thursday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59236643

Piss off fish face.

Does it really matter what she calls him?

Well yes when it appears she calculated what would play best if it were leaked :laugh:

Eh. She's all about image and publicity, so at least she's consistent :joker:

"She knew the possibility it could leak when she wrote it therefore it was okay for us to leak it" is a flimsy excuse at best. The princess will win this case once again.

No one is surprised

Poor Harry, he has no idea what she is

Her dad give the letter to the mail? Am I reading that right?

Well, if she calls him daddy then obviously she would send her letter to daddy.:shrug:

Meghan had revealed the letter to friends who leaked parts of it that painted her father in a bad light to People magazine. That was why Mr Markle went to the Mail on Sunday, to reveal the letter in its proper context.

The Telegraph.

On Tuesday, the Court heard arguments about a People magazine article in which the existence of the letter was first made public, saying it made a “number of serious defamatory allegations” about Mr Markle that he could defend himself from “only by disclosing the text of the letter”.

Mr Caldecott said the article made a "serious allegation" that Mr Markle would not take his daughter and son-in-law’s phone calls and “never texted” in the lead-up to the wedding, adding that it fortified “the impression he had heartlessly ignored his daughter at this most important time”.

In fact, he told the court, it was contradicted by pre-wedding texts telling the Duchess he had undergone heart surgery, was unable to fly, and was sorry.

"It's all so close now and I can't wait to walk you down the aisle,” he told his daughter, in the lead-up to the wedding, before messaging to say he was safe in an American hospital and would have to stay there.

After heart surgery, he said: “The doctor will not allow me to fly so of course I can't come. Love you and wish you the best of everything."

He later added: "Who will be giving you away? If you really need me, I will come. I'm sorry about all of this."

Saying the relevant messages were absent from Lord Justice Warby’s summary, ANL called the judgment “one-sided when all the texts are considered”.

Having calculated it may be leaked and ‘pull at the heartstrings’ :laugh:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-fa...ng-would-pull/

Duchess of Sussex apologises to court for forgetting she authorised senior aide to brief authors of her biography

The Duchess of Sussex has apologised to the British court for failing to remember that she authorised a senior aide to brief the authors of her biography.
The Duchess, who has previously insisted through lawyers that there was no collaboration with the authors of Finding Freedom, said she had forgotten email exchanges with her then-press secretary Jason Knauf about a meeting.
In a witness statement to the Court of Appeal, Mr Knauf said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had "authorised specific cooperation in writing" in December 2018. ......
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She ‘forgot’. Of course you did Meghan. :rolleyes:
She just can't help telling lie after lie and when she tells lies to the court it goes to a new level.

She just keeps getting caught fibbing and my initial total support for them is depleting rapidly each and every time.

Like how would you ‘forget’ that you authorised an aide to brief authors of your biography….she is a calculating liar…lie after lie after lie….what a joke.

Shes a clown.

what she did was perjury .... lying to the court, which is a very serious offence

That’s why most decent lawyers will tell their clients to say “not to my recollection” rather than “no”, because then it isn’t a lie unless they can prove that you didn’t forget.

So it depends what she said when asked the first time.

Oh deary me ..how embarrassing

Interestingly Jason Knauf still works for William....revenge is a dish best served cold and all that ...

Conflict of interests is a dish best served with a professional admission that there’s a conflict of interests and gracefully stepping aside, so I don’t think we’re at a classy restaurant this time.

telling lies is never classy that is true

So Jason Knaufe had a two hour meeting with Omid Scobie in which he used briefing notes provided by Meghan....

Scobie has already given a witness statement stating he had no contact with the pair...

:umm2:

yes, it pretty much indicates there was conspiracy to deceive the british court too, not just perjury.

Given that her passing on information to feed the book is a fundamental part of the court case, and that she she gave information on multiple occasions, she just can't play the "i forgot" card

Her comment was that using the term "Daddy" would "pull at people's heartstrings" when it was leaked. Bear in mind that her friends had already leaked parts of the letter with her blessing, long before her Dad did.