Meghan Markle’s dad has “quite rightly” not been told the confidential reason her lawsuit against a publisher has been delayed for nine months, a judge says.
High Court judge Mr Justice Warby has questioned whether Thomas Markle, 76, is an important witness in the civil case and whether he really needs to give evidence in person.
In a heavily redacted ruling made public on Wednesday, the judge also said Mr Markle’s “thoughts and feelings” over the letter sent to him by his daughter are a “relatively minor” part of her privacy claim against the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline.
Meghan, 39, is suing Associated Newspapers Ltd over an article which reproduced parts of a handwritten letter sent to her dad in August 2018, five months after he missed her wedding to Prince Harry.
At a hearing in London in October, Mr Justice Warby agreed to adjourn the trial – which was due to start on January 11 next year – until the autumn of 2021 after hearing from lawyers for both parties in a private hearing.
The senior judge had said the private hearing was necessary to protect “the confidentiality of the information relied on” by Meghan in her application to postpone the trial.
Mr Markle, who lives in Mexico, has said he is willing to fly to London to give evidence and wants a trial to be held sooner rather than later because he isn’t in good health and “could die tomorrow”.
