Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be asked to give evidence under oath in a US defamation case brought by the Duchess’s half-sister – after a motion to block testimony was rejected by a court judge.
Samantha Markle is suing the Duchess for ‘defamation and abusive lying’ following the couple’s announcement highly publicized revealing interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
In a filing filed in March last year, Samantha Markle claimed “patently false and malicious statements” were made by Meghan to a “global audience”.
The Duchess previously filed a motion to prevent depositions, where a person is required to testify under oath, from taking place in the case.
However, that motion was denied on Tuesday by Florida Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell.
“Defendant Markle does not show that unusual circumstances warrant the requested stay, or that prejudice or undue burden will result if the court does not impose a stay,” the documents state.
“Defendant Markle does not meet the high standard required to stay discovery pending resolution of a determinative motion.”
In their joint interview with American talk show host Winfrey in March 2021, Harry and Meghan opened up about their two families and made a series of allegations about the Royal family.
Samantha Markle’s initial complaint said comments made by the Sussexes during the interview reached “around 50 million people in 17 countries”.
In the filing, she alleged that she was defamed by Meghan during the interview when the Duchess “falsely and maliciously” said she was “an only child”.
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“The plaintiff – who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair – brings this defamation action based on patently false and malicious statements made by her half-sister to a global audience, including approximately 50 million people in 17 Countries Who Watched Winfrey’s Oprah interview with the accused, Meghan Markle, and her husband, Prince Harry of England,” the filing reads.
“Meghan – who was featured with Prince Harry on the cover of Time Magazine’s annual feature on ‘The World’s Most Influential People’ published and disseminated false and malicious lies designed to destroy the claimant’s reputation and which submitted the petitioner to humiliation, shame and hatred on a world scale.”
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The filing also added that Meghan used “the powerful resources of the Royal Family’s public relations operation” to broadcast and spread “lies around the world” about Samantha Markle and their father, Thomas Markle.
“Defendant orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy the reputation and credibility of her sister and father in order to preserve and promote the false ‘rags-to-royalty’ narrative,” the filing states.
“(It was) a premeditated campaign to destroy their reputation and credibility so that they could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairy tale life story concocted by the defendant.”
The scheduled depositions come following The Sussexes’ explosive Netflix series and the publication of Harry Spare’s memoir last month.
Sky News has contacted the Sussexes for comment.
