The duchess’s half-sister says Meghan “falsely and maliciously” said she was “an only child”.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex could be questioned as part of a US defamation case brought by Meghan’s half-sister.
Samantha Markle is suing Meghan for “defamation and injurious falsehoods”, including claims of being an “only child” in an Oprah TV interview.
She is seeking $75,000 (£62,000) damages in a case lodged in March 2022.
On Tuesday a judge rejected a bid to stop Meghan and her husband Prince Harry from having to give evidence in a legal deposition.
A deposition is a formal testimony from a witness or someone involved in a case, given outside of court but under oath.
And the ruling by judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell in Florida means that, if the case goes further ahead, Meghan and Prince Harry could have to face such questioning.
In this Markle versus Markle case, Samantha has accused Meghan of misrepresenting their relationship when they were growing up, giving the impression that they were “virtual strangers” and that Samantha had “no relationship whatsoever with her sister Meghan”.
Legal documents show Samantha’s claim that Meghan had “falsely and maliciously stated” that she was “an only child”, when Meghan and Prince Harry were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
The claim contends that Meghan had “frequent and regular contact with her sister Samantha throughout her childhood”.
The case, before a district court in Florida, also alleges that Meghan had pursued a “false rags to royalty narrative”, claiming childhood hardship which had destroyed the “reputation and credibility” of her father and half-sister.
Samantha Markle’s legal claim says their father paid for Meghan’s expensive education costs and helped to get her started in her acting career.
The legal papers accused Meghan of exposing Samantha to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale”.
There are also a series of 38 “requests for admission”, putting statements and questions to Meghan, such as: “Your sister, Samantha Markle has driven you to school on a regular basis at a certain period of your life.”
In response, the reply from Meghan’s lawyers says the question is “not relevant to any party’s claim or defence” and says the query is “vague and ambiguous”.
Replying to “You are not an only child” Meghan’s legal response is that “a statement that she grew up or did not grow up as an “only child” cannot be defamatory as a matter of law”.
The response argues that this “does not distinguish between biological relations, on the one hand, and the manner in which a child was raised, on the other”.
There are also statements “Queen Elizabeth was not a racist” and “King Charles is not a racist” to which the response says this is “not relevant to any party’s claim or defence”.
The latest ruling in the case also saw the judge appearing to question some of the claims in the case.
The judge said that a “preliminary peek” suggested that some of the claims “may be ripe for dismissal”.