Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be forced to testify under oath in a US defamation case brought by the Duchess’ half-sister after a motion to block testimony was rejected by a judge.
Samantha Markle is suing the Duchess for ‘libel and libel’ following the couple’s complaint high profile revealing interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
In a statement filed in March last year, Samantha Markle said that “patently false and harmful statements” were being made by Meghan to a “worldwide audience”.
The Duchess previously tabled a motion to prevent depositions, in which a person is forced to testify under oath, from taking place in the case.
However, this motion was denied by Florida Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell on Tuesday.
“Defendant Markle fails to demonstrate that unusual circumstances warrant the requested stay, or that injury or undue burden will result if the court does not impose a stay,” the documents said.
“Defendant Markle does not meet the high standards required to remain uncovered pending resolution of a dismissal motion.”
Samantha Markle sues sister for ‘defamation and abusive falsehood’
In their joint interview with US talk show host Winfrey in March 2021, Harry and Meghan spoke about both their families and made a number of allegations about the Royal family.
Samantha Markle’s original complaint claimed that the comments the Sussexes made during the interview had reached “around 50 million people in 17 countries”.
In the filing she claimed she was vilified by Meghan in the interview when the Duchess “falsely and maliciously” claimed she was an “only child”.
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“Plaintiff – who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair-bound – brings this libel action based on demonstrably false and malicious statements made by her half-sister to a worldwide audience, including approximately 50 million people in 17 countries who they watched Oprah Winfrey interviewed the defendant, Meghan Markle, and her husband, Prince Harry of England,” the file reads.
“Meghan – who was featured with Prince Harry on the cover of Time Magazine’s annual feature on ‘The World’s Most Influential People’ has published and disseminated false and vicious lies designed to destroy the plaintiff’s reputation and which subjected the complainant to humiliation , shame and hatred on a worldwide scale”.
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The filing also added that Meghan had used “the powerful resources of the royal family’s public relations operation” to spread and disseminate “lies around the world” about Samantha Markle and their father, Thomas Markle.
“The defendant orchestrated the campaign to defame and destroy the reputation and credibility of his sister and father in order to preserve and promote the false ‘rags to royalty’ narrative,” the filing said.
“(It was) a premeditated campaign to destroy their reputation and credibility so that they could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairytale life story concocted by the defendant.”
The expected depositions come after the The Sussexes’ explosive Netflix series and the publication of Harry Spare’s memoir last month.
Sky News has contacted the Sussexes for comments.
