Tabloid sued for 'bullying' Meghan Markle

London: British royal Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has sued a tabloid newspaper that she claims illegally published a personal letter she wrote to her father. The civil lawsuit accuses the Mail on Sunday of copyright infringement, misuse of private information and violating the UK's data protection law with the "intrusive" publication of the letter, a spokeswoman for Schillings, the law firm handling the case, said.

Prince Harry accused the Mail on Sunday of editing the letter in "an intentionally destructive manner" to "manipulate" readers with an unflattering portrayal of his wife. In a statement lambasting UK tabloids more broadly, Harry said the lawsuit had "been many months in the making" following a "ruthless campaign" to smear Meghan by a "press pack that has vilified her almost daily" and created "lie after lie at her expense" during her maternity leave.

"I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in... There comes a point when the only thing to do is to stand up to this behaviour because it destroys lives. Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people," Harry said in the statement posted on the couple's website.

Harry then gave the example of the death of his mother, Princess Diana and stated, "I've seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."

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