Meghan Markle has insisted her wedding to Prince Harry generated £1billion of tourism revenue for the UK.
The Duchess of Sussex also for the first time named five friends who criticized her dad, Thomas, after the pair had a spectacular falling out in the lead up to her May 2018 nuptials.
In a series of statements made in legal papers submitted to the High Court, the 38-year-old claimed her wedding raised £1billion in tourist revenue.
The papers say this “far outweighed” the contribution of taxpayers' money towards crowd security.
This figure has been previously doubted by consulting firm Brand Finance, MailOnline reports, with a figure of £300million closer to the mark.
Meghan also says she was prevented from defending herself against reports concerning the acrimonious relationship with her father, which left her friends “rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant” .
The former actress is suing Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) owner of The Mail On Sunday newspaper over five articles, which included reproduced parts of a handwritten note she had sent to her father in August 2018.
Meghan claims her dad’s decision to make the letter public breached her privacy, copyright and data protection rights.
In a major development this evening it emerged in confidential papers that Meghan not only identified her pals who spoke anonymously to People magazine, but insisted she didn’t know they were doing so.
Meghan said she "did not know about the interview having been given, and only found out about it, and any reference to the Letter, after the People magazine article was published".
The friends have never been named, with the magazine only referring to them as “Meghan's inner circle – a longtime friend, a former co-star, a friend from LA, a one-time colleague and a close confidante”.
They are detailed as friends A, B, C, D and E in redacted documents but named in confidential papers submitted to the court.
Meghan’s lawyers insist the Duchess “discussed with Friend A that she was writing a letter to her father at the time of penning it', which was seven months before the article was published in People in February 2019.
Legal experts predict the associates could now be called to testify in court during a sensational trial - dubbed “Markle versus Markle” expected at the end of the year or early 2021.
The documents state: "As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited from defending herself."
At the beginning of May Associated Newspapers asked Mr Justice Warby to strike out the following allegations in Meghan's case:
- That the defendant acted dishonestly and in bad faith.
- That the defendant deliberately dug up or stirred up conflict between the claimant and her father.
- That the claimant was distressed by the defendant’s “obvious agenda of publishing intrusive or offensive stories about [her] intended to portray her in a false and damaging light”.
Mr Justice Warby agreed the allegations should not form part of her case at this stage because they were "irrelevant" to her claim for misuse of private information, copyright infringement and breach of the Data Protection Act.
A well placed Palace insider said last night: “It is clear Meghan is not pulling any punches in her pursuit of this trial.
“The Royal Family will be absolutely dismayed at the assertion she was unprotected by the institution which is a bold claim.
“The Queen, Prince Charles and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge all went out of their way to make her feel welcome and will be hugely disappointed these allegations are being made so forcefully.”
