Meghan court case live today

[callmeadoctor]

x-post!

I think NDAs can be overridden by courts, who require the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth (but IANAL)

So she lied to the court and has apologised for lying?

On a separate note - did everyone see this ? I assume it's because of Meghan's video reading of The Bench was heavily ratio'ed

@Mummy7777

I think MM massively misunderstood the significance of marrying into the Royal family. She should've been prepped a lot better by Harry.

I cannot believe they talk about misinformation and ethics but yet don't practice what they preach.

Didn’t she have any responsibility herself to take some time to think about what she was getting herslef into? She denied that she knew anything about him before she met him. She leapt into it without thinking twice it seems. For a grown woman who had already been married she acted with undue haste and little common sense it seems. It’s glaringly obvious that she had no idea how the RF works or what the expectations of her would be as a member if it. Her anger and dismay that she wasn’t able to do exactly as she liked once she was married seems the result of extreme naïveté. She must take responsibility for that herself, at least in part. She also doesn’t seem to take advice or listen to anyone.

Timelines - the court case was launched, and announced by Prince Harry, on 1 October 2019 - 3 months before they left. Prince Harrys words at the time are interesting to re-read int he light of the court case. He said:

“This particular legal action hinges on one incident in a long and disturbing pattern of behaviour by British tabloid media. The contents of a private letter were published unlawfully in an intentionally destructive manner to manipulate you, the reader, and further the divisive agenda of the media group in question. In addition to their unlawful publication of this private document, they purposely misled you by strategically omitting select paragraphs, specific sentences, and even singular words to mask the lies they had perpetuated for over a year”

Interesting because of course we now know that the contents of the letter were toiled over with the distinct prospect of publication in mind. Words like “daddy” were deliberately added by Meghan to manipulate readers by “tugging on heartstrings”.

Meghan also wrote that if her father “leaks it then that’s on his conscious but at least the world will know the truth. Words I could never voice publicly.’ So maybe they were particularly annoyed that the Mail only published an edited version of the whole letter and so issued the proceedings to force them to publish the unedited letter, as Meghan wanted her truth all out in public?

Please correct me if I’m wrong but before Warby made his summary judgement, didn’t the ‘Palace Four’ say they were prepared to provide a statement/evidence that would provide context or info on the letter. (Not sure if on other things too, like FF). But Warby made his summary judgement without seeing this? I don’t think even claimant or defence saw it either (officially). So nobody knows what it was they were going to provide.
Maybe this is one of the reasons it’s only coming out now, because this is the first opportunity since the summary judgment.

@EdithWeston

x-post!

I think NDAs can be overridden by courts, who require the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth (but IANAL)

They can be - a court-ordered witness summons will override pretty much any obligation - but there was no such summons here in this case. Jason’s Knauf’s evidence was filed in support of ANL’s appeal.

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that had the original Judge not granted Meghan’s summary judgment application the case would have proceeded in the normal way and Meghan would have been required to disclose emails and texts around the drafting of the letter, and likely Finding Freedom as well. So the spotlight was already on these exchanges - it’s just no-one knew whether they existed, and if so, what they said.

@PickupaPenguin8 I guess you don’t know what you don’t know. I agree some of it does seem very naive of her but, especially coming from a country without a royal family, maybe half of it is just stuff you’d never think to ask. I agree the onus is partly on her - if I was marrying into the Spanish royal family I’d do a lot of research, but I really think Harry bears a lot of the responsibility if Meghan was labouring under any massive misapprehensions about royal life.

@islandbeach

Please correct me if I’m wrong but before Warby made his summary judgement, didn’t the ‘Palace Four’ say they were prepared to provide a statement/evidence that would provide context or info on the letter. (Not sure if on other things too, like FF). But Warby made his summary judgement without seeing this? I don’t think even claimant or defence saw it either (officially). So nobody knows what it was they were going to provide. Maybe this is one of the reasons it’s only coming out now, because this is the first opportunity since the summary judgment.

I think you're right.

Apart from Jason who were the other Palace Four - do we know?

@Islandbeach - yes that’s right. At the hearing of the summary judgement ANL’s lawyers said that if the case proceeded to a trial they would have relevant evidence to provide from people who worked at the Palace, and so the case shouldn’t be decided on the papers without hearing that. The Judge disagreed, and granted her application.

ANL didn’t make the same mistake at the appeal hearing and filed the witness statement to ensure it was all before the court.

@pickupaPenguin8

Yes I agree - marry in haste repent at leisure. They both seem immature tbh.

It's a load of codswallop if she really wants us to believe that she didn't Google the royal family. She has stated to us that when she sees a wrong she puts pen to paper etc etc. I jus cannot believe she didn't Google the royal family.

In my eyes she's lost all credibility. Both of them are just full of bullshit.

[quote SickAndTiredAgain]@PickupaPenguin8 I guess you don’t know what you don’t know. I agree some of it does seem very naive of her but, especially coming from a country without a royal family, maybe half of it is just stuff you’d never think to ask. I agree the onus is partly on her - if I was marrying into the Spanish royal family I’d do a lot of research, but I really think Harry bears a lot of the responsibility if Meghan was labouring under any massive misapprehensions about royal life.[/quote]
I think Harry does bear a lot of responsibility. Meghan even said in the Oprah interview that he only mentioned in the car on the way to meet the Queen that she had to curtsey. You'd think he might have mentioned it earlier!

I’m sure I read Samantha Cohen was one and she was CC’d in the FF email from Meghan. Although interesting that at this appeal we are only hearing about JK. We are on to MM’s barrister so I assume there is nothing else new from defence for the appeal (maybe statements from the other 3 are not as relevant for the appeal but would be used in a trial). I’m entirely speculating as I have zero knowledge of the appeals / court system!

Didn’t she have any responsibility herself to take some time to think about what she was getting herslef into? She denied that she knew anything about him before she met him. She leapt into it without thinking twice it seems. For a grown woman who had already been married she acted with undue haste and little common sense it seems. It’s glaringly obvious that she had no idea how the RF works or what the expectations of her would be as a member if it. Her anger and dismay that she wasn’t able to do exactly as she liked once she was married seems the result of extreme naïveté. She must take responsibility for that herself, at least in part. She also doesn’t seem to take advice or listen to anyone.

I think neither of them could believe their luck. She’s a stunner, rich and successful in her own right and from a totally different culture from the restrictive one he was stuck in, he, well, he’s Prince Harry, son of icon Diana, actual royalty. I think they marched each other down the aisle ASAP. She hid her dad/family because she thought it would put him off, he wasn’t open about what her life was going to be and what would be expected. The other royals were all on their best behaviour and very welcoming so it all seemed amazing. I think they thought they’d get rings on fingers and sort everything else out later. Which never does work does it?

That’s a good assessment @LondonWolf
Both from dysfunctional families - his especially. Can you imagine the head fuck that marrying into the Royal Family must be?!

Meghan even said in the Oprah interview that he only mentioned in the car on the way to meet the Queen that she had to curtsey. You'd think he might have mentioned it earlier!

That was probably bollocks too.

@LondonWolf

Didn’t she have any responsibility herself to take some time to think about what she was getting herslef into? She denied that she knew anything about him before she met him. She leapt into it without thinking twice it seems. For a grown woman who had already been married she acted with undue haste and little common sense it seems. It’s glaringly obvious that she had no idea how the RF works or what the expectations of her would be as a member if it. Her anger and dismay that she wasn’t able to do exactly as she liked once she was married seems the result of extreme naïveté. She must take responsibility for that herself, at least in part. She also doesn’t seem to take advice or listen to anyone.

I think neither of them could believe their luck. She’s a stunner, rich and successful in her own right and from a totally different culture from the restrictive one he was stuck in, he, well, he’s Prince Harry, son of icon Diana, actual royalty. I think they marched each other down the aisle ASAP. She hid her dad/family because she thought it would put him off, he wasn’t open about what her life was going to be and what would be expected. The other royals were all on their best behaviour and very welcoming so it all seemed amazing. I think they thought they’d get rings on fingers and sort everything else out later. Which never does work does it?

Yes, I think that’s very true.

Can you imagine the head fuck that marrying into the Royal Family must be?!

I agree. There aren’t enough palaces and tiaras in the world that would make me want anything to do with it. Of course I know they’re immensely privileged, I’m not saying “poor them, what a hard life”, just that it’s a life I’d never marry into.

I cannot believe they talk about misinformation and ethics but yet don't practice what they preach

I suspect that's the basis of a lot of peoples' annoyance

TBF the same applies to some other royals, but at least we haven't heard quite so much from them on these subjects - though equally they're better able to control their image because they have the palace machine behind them

Yes and it is quite detailed information to have about one's half sister if you haven't been in contact for decades. My impression is that the Markles are pretty dysfunctional and Meghan just hope they would go away, somehow stay in hiding and not screw up the amazing turn her life had taken.
Actually telling lies in court is a sign of massive arrogance or stupidity.

[quote Serenster]@Islandbeach - yes that’s right. At the hearing of the summary judgement ANL’s lawyers said that if the case proceeded to a trial they would have relevant evidence to provide from people who worked at the Palace, and so the case shouldn’t be decided on the papers without hearing that. The Judge disagreed, and granted her application.

ANL didn’t make the same mistake at the appeal hearing and filed the witness statement to ensure it was all before the court.[/quote]
Yes, ANL have learned from the first go around. The Sussexes: not so much.

White said a letter from lawyers representing the “Palace Four” indicated they would be able to “shed some light” on the drafting. The four are Jason Knauf, the then communications secretary to the royal couple, who ANL believes “was involved” in the wording of the letter; the former communications staff members Christian Jones and Sara Latham; and the former private secretary Samantha Cohen

From the Guardian in January.

The hole is getting bigger for Markle.

Good god. Ok, let's give Meghan the benefit of every possible doubt here and suppose that her mental health issues were so severe that she genuinely did "forget" these interactions that no one could ever possibly forget. Even if that's true, why should anyone ever believe her denials of anything? Even if she genuinely believes that she didn't do whatever it is she's denying, we now know with certainty that she's too disconnected from reality for her belief that she didn't do a thing to mean she actually didn't do that thing.