Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are on the offensive, filing a third lawsuit against a British press outlet for publishing "untrue" stories to portray the Duchess "negatively." Markle first sued the Mail and its parent company, Associated Newspapers, last month for publishing excerpts of a private letter she wrote to her father, and Prince Harry sued News Group Newspapers, owners of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, for alleged phone hacking. Now, Markle's team has hit Associated Newspapers with another lawsuit, this time targeted at specific claims they made about Markle, particularly regarding her baby shower and the house she moved into with Prince Harry, Frogmore Cottage.
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Specifically, Markle denies using taxpayer money to fit the house with a $6,500 USD copper bathtub, private yoga studio, tennis court, and guest wing for her mother, Doria Ragland. Markle also denied that her mother wasn't invited to her baby shower. The lawsuit reads: "The claimant’s mother was of course invited, and the claimant also offered to buy her airline tickets. However, her mother was unable to attend due to work commitments."
Speaking of that baby shower, Markle has a few bones to pick about that reporting as well. The lawsuit states the New York City event “actually cost a tiny fraction” of the $300,000 USD that the outlet reported, and that the guests — such as Amal Clooney, Gayle King, and Misha Nonoo — were not invited for purposes of showing off, but were instead "close friends," some of whom had known the Duchess "for over 20 years."
“There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face – as so many of you can relate to – I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been,” Prince Harry wrote in an open letter back in October. “Because in today’s digital age, press fabrications are repurposed as truth across the globe. One day’s coverage is no longer tomorrow’s chip-paper.”
The Mail isn't backing down, with a spokesman telling the BBC that the company will defend itself "with vigour" and that "there is nothing in this document which changes that position."
Ironically, it sounds like everyone could use an expensive bath and some private yoga right about now.