Meghan's lawyers deny she cooperated with royal book authors

LONDON (AP) — Lawyers for a British newspaper publisher that's being sued for invasion of privacy by the Duchess of Sussex argued Monday that she made personal information public by cooperating with the authors of a book about her relationship with Prince Harry. Her lawyers deny the claim.

The former Meghan Markle is suing the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website over five February 2019 articles that published portions of a handwritten letter she wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, after her marriage to Harry in 2018.

Meghan, 39, is seeking damages from publisher Associated Newspapers Ltd. for alleged misuse of private information, copyright infringement and data protection breaches.

The publisher is contesting the claim. It argues that Meghan must have known the letter to her father would likely become public.

Alexandra Marzec, a lawyer for Associated Newspapers, said Monday that Meghan had a media strategy that involved “using her friends as, effectively, PR agents” to “influence the media” in the months before she sent the letter to her father.

At a hearing Monday at the High Court in London, the publisher sought to amend its defense in light of a book about Meghan and Harry that was published last month.

It said the book — “Finding Freedom” — “contains a great deal of detailed information about (Meghan’s) personal life, including a number of passages referring to her relationship and communications with her father, and a section referring to the letter which is at the heart of this case.”

Antony White, the senior lawyer for Associated Newspapers, said in written submissions that the book appeared to have been written with Meghan and Harry’s “extensive cooperation.”

But Meghan’s lawyers denied that...