The Duchess of Sussex’s victory in a privacy battle with the Mail on Sunday is vindication of “Megxit”, her friends have said.
The Duchess was advised by aides within the Royal household not to bring the legal action against Associated Newspapers for publishing extracts of a private letter sent to her father.
Instead she pursued the case, hiring Schillings, a media law firm with an aggressive reputation.
It is thought to be the first time a member of the Royal family had engaged the firm.
Buckingham Palace had viewed with dismay the prospect of an unseemly court case in which the Duchess would have had to face her father across the courtroom.
However, in a judgment that took the Mail on Sunday by surprise, Lord Justice Warby ruled in favour of the Duchess in her privacy and copyright battle without the need for a trial.
Friends of the Duke and Duchess have told The Telegraph that the case would never have gone ahead if the former actress and her husband Prince Harry had not quit Royal duties to make a new life for themselves in Los Angeles. Friends said it allowed her to finance the claim “independently”.
The decision is being seen as a vindication of their so-called ‘Megxit’ strategy which allows them to make money from their own commercial projects.
“There have been lots of people along the way who said they should have walked away or backed down,” said a friend, “It has shown determination on their part. I don’t think it shows a desire for litigation but…
