UK tabloid acknowledges legal loss to Duchess Meghan with front-page statement

After a failed appeal earlier this month, Britain's The Mail on Sunday included a front-page notice on Dec. 26 to readers that it lost the legal battle over publishing parts of a handwritten letter Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, wrote in 2018 to her now-estranged father, Thomas Markle, in 2019.

"The Duchess of Sussex wins her legal case for copyright infringement against Associated Newspapers for articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online – SEE PAGE 3," read a line at the bottom of the front page of the newspaper.

At the top of the third page was a short piece giving more details regarding the duchess' lawsuit with the tabloid.

"Following a hearing on 19-20 January, 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May, 2021, the Court has given judgment for the Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement," it read. "The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and on Mail Online."

An additional line indicated this was just one part of the agreement handed down by the court in February and upheld in May. "Financial remedies have been agreed."

The statement was also published on Mail Online the same day, with links to the court rulings included.

"This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right," Meghan said in a statement after the latest appeal. "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."

Meghan now lives in California with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children, son Archie and daughter Lilibet.