British tabloid quietly publishes court-ordered apology to Meghan Markle, promises 'financial remedies'

(Image credit: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

published 27 December 2021

British tabloid the Mail on Sunday quietly published a court-ordered apology to Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, on Sunday, three years after the Mail published excerpts of a private letter she wrote to her father after marrying Prince Harry in 2018. The 64-word apology, headlined "The Duchess of Sussex," was printed on the bottom of the Mail on Sunday's front page and published at Mail Online late Christmas night.

"Following a hearing on 19-20 January 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May 2021, the court has given judgment for the Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement," the article said. "The court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in the Mail on Sunday and in Mail Online. Financial remedies have been agreed."

High Court Judge Mark Warby had ruled against Associated Newspapers, the Mail on Sunday's publisher, earlier this year, and an appellate court threw out the tabloid's challenge earlier this month, agreeing that Markle "had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter. Those contents were personal, private, and not matters of legitimate public interest." Markle quickly declared victory "not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right," and called for an overhaul of Britain's "cruel" and mendacious tabloid industry.

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The Mail on Sunday did get one minor win in court, The Guardian reports. In March, Warby "agreed that the font size could be smaller than that asked for by the duchess."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.