Thomas Markle

The Duchess of Sussex questioned whether she should call her father " daddy" in a Letter and whether it would " pull at The Heartstrings " if leaked, The Court of Appeal has heard.

The Letter is at the centre of a legal battle over privacy between The Duchess and publishers of the Mail on Sunday.

The Paper claimed it was written with an awareness it could be made public.

The Duchess won a previous court case that publishing The Letter was a misuse of her Private Information .

In The Second day of its appeal, lawyers for the publisher Associated Newspapers challenged the extent to which it was really a " private" Letter , sent by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to her estranged father Thomas Markle .

Lawyers for Associated Newspapers Limited said that they want to rely on a recent witness statement made by Jason Knauf - who was communications secretary to Meghan and Harry until March 2019 - in their legal bid to overturn the ruling.

The Court heard of text messages between The Duchess and Mr Knauf about the drafting of The Letter , sent in August 2018.

This included whether it should begin by addressing Mr Markle as " daddy".

The Court heard that The Duchess had asked her head of communications: " Given I've only ever called him 'daddy' it may make sense to open as such, despite him being less than paternal, and in the unfortunate event that it leaked it would pull at The Heartstrings . "

Andrew Caldecott , representing The News organisation, quoted Meghan in a further exchange, saying The Letter was " real, honest and factual, and if he leaks it, then that's on his conscience, and at least The World will know The Truth . Words I could never voice publicly".

And The Court heard The Exchange said: " Obviously everything I have drafted is with The Understanding that it could be leaked, so I have been meticulous in my word choice. "

Associated Newspapers' legal team are disputing in their appeal that This Was simply a private and personal Letter - and have argued that it was crafted with the " possibility of public consumption" in mind.

They are seeking to overturn a previous court ruling in favour of The Duchess , who had successfully sued over the publication of part of The Letter .

The Duchess had won her claim that This Was a misuse of her Private Information and a breach of copyright.

The Letter had been sent to Thomas Markle a few months after The Duchess had married Prince Harry and it challenged his dealings with the media.

Mr Markle, who was said to be unhappy at other media accounts of his relationship with his daughter, had given The Letter to the Mail on Sunday.

Lawyers for the newspaper suggested he wanted to challenge a " false narrative" of the run-up to his daughter's wedding and that revealing The Letter was a form of right of reply.

The Duchess 's legal team has still to provide their account, as they seek to uphold the finding of the earlier court.

Welcoming the earlier ruling, Meghan had said it was a victory against " dehumanising" media behaviour.

" The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep, " She Said .

The Mail on Sunday faced a requirement to publish a front-page statement on The Duchess of Sussex's case, which has been put on hold pending the outcome of The Appeal .

The hearing is due to end on Thursday .

Source of news: bbc.com