Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wins privacy battle against newspaper

Lawyers for the Mail on Sunday lost an appeal in their privacy battle against Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on Thursday.

The royal sued Associated Newspapers - the publisher of the newspaper - for breach of privacy and copyright infringement for publishing extracts of a handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.

A High Court judge ruled in her favour earlier this year, stating that the publication of the letter across five articles in February 2019 was unlawful and a trial was not required, but the publisher's lawyers appealed the decision, insisting that the case should go to trial.

And in a judgment published on Thursday, London's Court of Appeal upheld the original ruling and rejected the publisher's bid for a trial. The judges declared that the Duchess had a "reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter" and "these contents were personal, private, and not matters of legitimate public interest."

In a statement, the 40-year-old said her victory was a win for "anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right".

"While this win is precedent-setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create," she said, reports Sky News.

"As far removed as it may seem from your personal life, it's not. Tomorrow it could be you. These harmful practices don't happen once in a blue moon - they are a daily fail that divide us, and we all deserve better."