Meghan Markle is reportedly ready to reveal secret details of the royal family’s public funding as part of her court case against a British newspaper.
The Duchess of Sussex, now living in Los Angeles with husband Prince Harry and their young son Archie, is suing Britain’s Mail on Sunday after it published a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle.
She claims the publication breached her privacy, and the published elements were manipulated to distort the truth.
The first hearing in the case is due in a British court on Friday (London time). It will be held by video link.
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Ahead of that, Britain’s Telegraph is reporting that Meghan disputes the Mail on Sunday‘s description of her “immense wealth and privilege”.
According to paperwork filed with the court, she will outline “the true position as to the nature and extent to which she and her husband were ‘publicly funded’ ” as part of the trial.
The Duchess will also argue that whatever “(supposed) amount of money or privilege she has” should not affect her right to privacy.
The newspaper says the disclosures could go into unprecedented detail about funding for Britain’s royal family.
Usually, only limited information is available about the costs to British taxpayers of funding the royal family. Details such as security costs are always left out.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex famously quit as senior royals at the end of March. They revealed their decision in a bombshell announcement in January, saying they intended to carve out “a progressive new role” and “work to become financially independent”.
They also said their decision would remove “the supposed ‘public interest’ justification for media intrusion into their lives”.
According to the Telegraph, Meghan’s lawyer disputes the relevance of the Mail‘s description of the Sussexes’ household while in Britain, as costing taxpayers “a very large, but at present unknown to the defendant, amount of money”.
“Further, if and insofar as it is relevant, the claimant [Meghan] will refer to the true position as to the nature and extent to which she and her husband were ‘publicly funded’ as working members of the royal family, including the pressing need for security and protection which is generated as a result of their position, as opposed to the way in which this has been and continues to be portrayed by the defendant,” the statement says.
Recent interest in funding for Harry and Meghan has included the cost of their security, first while they were in Canada from late November 2019 and then when they moved to Los Angeles in March.
Canada said it would no longer contribute to the couple’s security bill – estimated to be millions of dollars a year – once they quit as working royals.
Once settled in the US, President Donald Trump declared “they must pay”, prompting the the Sussexes to announce they had made “privately funded” arrangements.
Discussions around the couple’s finances might also include money relating to Frogmore Cottage – a house on the Queen’s Windsor estate that was renovated for them to live in – the costs of their May 2018 wedding and funding through the Sovereign Grant or the Duchy of Cornwall.
The post Meghan Markle prepared to reveal details of royal funding in court case appeared first on The New Daily.
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