The Duchess of Sussex is suing U.K. tabloid the Mail on Sunday after it published a private letter she sent her father Thomas Markle.
The newspaper wants the names of five young mothers who are central to the case to be reportable ahead of the full trial, due next year.
However, Meghan—who celebrates her 39th birthday today—claims the move is part of a “vicious” campaign to use the court case to generate “clickbait” headlines.
Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m. U.K. time (5.30 a.m. ET) Judge Mark Warby will rule on whether the friends can be named.
The five friends gave interviews to People magazine defending Meghan after critical coverage in the British media.
However, they are at the center of the privacy and copyright case because they mentioned the letter the duchess sent her father.
Thomas Markle then gave the handwritten note to the Mail on Sunday, which printed extensive extracts.
Ahead of last week’s hearing, Meghan submitted a witness statement to the High Court, in London, personally asking for the names to be kept private.
In the filing, seen by Newsweek, she said: “These five women are not on trial, and nor am I.
“The publisher of the Mail on Sunday is the one on trial. It is this publisher that acted unlawfully and is attempting to evade accountability; to create a circus and distract from the point of this case—that the Mail on Sunday unlawfully published my private letter.
“Each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy.
“Both the Mail on Sunday and the court system have their names on a confidential schedule, but for the Mail on Sunday to expose them in the public domain for no reason other than clickbait and commercial gain is vicious and poses a threat to their emotional and mental wellbeing.
“The Mail on Sunday is playing a media game with real lives.”
One of the five women, known as Friend B, also submitted a statement to the court. In a court filing, she said the newspaper’s “releasing of the other women’s names feels like a breach of my trust.”
A lawyer for Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday, argued Meghan and husband Prince Harry have been using the court case for PR and spin since it was announced in the autumn.
The company’s court filing reads: “It is [Meghan] who has disclosed the friends’ names.
“[Associated Newspapers] had no agreement of confidentiality with any friend and therefore has not and does not propose to breach anyone’s trust.”
Temporary reporting restrictions were last week imposed on proceedings banning identification of the five women pending the judge’s decision.
Last week, Newsweek revealed how German magazine Bunte published images of Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland pushing baby Archie in a toy car in its July 16 edition.
The pictures appear to have been taken within the grounds of Tyler Perry’s $18 million mansion in Beverly Hills, where Meghan and Prince Harry have been staying.
A week later, the duke and duchess filed legal action against unnamed paparazzi photographers in Los Angeles.
