Meghan Markle has faced another major blow as she spent the first round of her court war with the Mail on Sunday.
The Duchess of Sussex is required to pay a hefty fee of £67,888 in legal costs as she accepted defeat against the newspaper’s publisher Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
Prince Harry and Meghan are suing the group over an article that was published in February of 2019 that the couple claimed was a breach of privacy and copyright as it added several letters that the duchess had sent out to her estranged father Thomas Markle.
Meghan agreed to pay the colossal sum after ANL argued that elements of her case be struck out.
High Court’s Justice Warby ruled in favour of the publishers and scrapped the ‘irrelevant’ parts.
The duchess’ legal counsel wanted to argue that the newspaper had acted fraudulently by purposely fueling issues between the father-daughter.
However, those claims were struck out by Justice Warby while the group trailed Meghan for the legal costs.
The High Court was told on Wednesday through the legal documents that were released that “following written submissions by both parties, on July 22, 2020, the claimant agreed to pay the defendant’s costs in full (£67,888).”
The hearing is said to have cost the duchess £100,000 at the very least if her own legal costs are to be added.
When the case goes into full trial next year, the expenses are expected to surge into millions.