Thomas Markle’s “views and feelings” over a letter sent to him by daughter Meghan are a “relatively minor” aspect of her case against a British newspaper, a High Court judge has said.
The 76-year-old had “quite rightly” not been told the confidential reason for his daughter’s successful bid to adjourn the trial to autumn next year, Mr Justice Warby claimed in a ruling published on Wednesday.
Meghan is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, after they published parts of a letter that she wrote to her father in August 2018.
Mr Justice Warby agreed to adjourn the trial, which was due to start in January next year, until next autumn after hearing from lawyers for both parties in a private hearing.
He said the private hearing was necessary to protect “the confidentiality of the information relied on” by Meghan in her application to postpone the trial.
The newly published ruling concludes that Mr Markle’s “subjective thoughts and feelings do seem to be, on any objective view, a relatively minor aspect of the case overall”.
Meghan is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline for misuse of her private information
“It is not suggested that Mr Markle’s evidence on those topics is an essential component of the defence case,” it adds.
“More importantly… there is no suggestion that Mr Markle would not be available to give…
