Mail on Sunday publisher Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) challenged a February court ruling in London's Court of Appeal that the publication of Meghan's letter was "patently excessive and therefore illegal", and therefore violated his privacy.

In this letter to her father published in 2018, shortly after her marriage to Prince Harry, the 40-year-old ex-American actress asked her father Thomas Markle, 77, to stop talking and lying in the media about their broken relationship.

The Mail on Sunday had been ordered to report on the front page of its legal defeat, and its publisher to pay 450,000 pounds (530,000 euros) to the Duchess of Sussex for her legal costs.

But the mass-circulation tabloid argued in its appeal reviewed in November that she wrote the letter knowing it could be disclosed.

The Court of Appeal delivers its decision at 10:00 a.m. (local and GMT).

Possibility of leakage

In order to support his claims, the Mail on Sunday highlighted during the appeal hearings the testimony of Jason Knauf, the couple's former communications secretary, now based in California.

This former assistant said that the draft letter had been written with in mind "that she could escape".

In written testimony, Meghan refuted this claim, saying she didn't think her father would leak the letter she said portrayed him in an unfavorable light.

It was only a "possibility", she said.

Bringing water to the mill of the tabloid which wants to demonstrate that Meghan Markle regularly sought to influence public opinion, Mr. Knauf also said to have provided on behalf of Meghan and Harry private information to the authors of the unofficial biography of the royal couple, "Finding Freedom" ("Harry and Meghan, free").

According to him, the book project was "discussed routinely" and "directly with the Duchess, in person and by email".

Ms Markle acknowledged the latter information and apologized for misleading the court by not clarifying it at first instance.

She argued, however, that the information shared with the perpetrators was "a far cry from the very detailed personal information" the Mail on Sunday had published.

But this backpedaling earned her the mockery of the tabloids, the Sun nicknamed her "Madam Stunned", in reference to the series of children's books "Monsieur, Madame".

Prince Harry, 37, sixth in the order of succession to the British crown, has repeatedly denounced media pressure on his couple and made it the main reason for his withdrawal from the royal family, effective since April 2020. He and his wife have filed several lawsuits against the British tabloids.

© 2021 AFP