Explained | Why Harry and Meghan will be questioned in Samantha Markle defamation case

Samantha, Meghan’s half-sister is suing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for defamation and injurious falsehoods following the couple’s tell-all-interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, BBC reported. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be questioned as part of a US defamation case brought by Meghan’s Samantha Markle.

As per reports, Meghan Markle’s half-sister alleges that the Duchess of Sussex defamed her when she falsely and maliciously said she was a single child. According to Standard.co.uk Meghan Markle previously filed a motion to stop deposition in the case, but it was dismissed by Florida judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell. “Defendant Markle does not show that unusual circumstances justify the requested stay, or that prejudice or an undue burden will result if the court does not impose a stay,” the documents, obtained by the PA news agency, stated.

“Defendant Markle does not satisfy the high standard required to stay discovery pending the resolution of a dispositive motion.” Samantha Markle in her motion said that Meghan Markle’s statement had subjected her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale”.

Samantha Markle was called out by the Duchess of Sussex in the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. Shortly after Meghan went public with Harry, Samantha Markle “was everywhere” speaking about how close they were, but Meghan tells a different story. “Plaintiff – who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair – brings this action for defamation based on demonstrably false and malicious statements made by her half-sister to a worldwide audience, including roughly 50 million people in 17 countries who watched the Oprah Winfrey interview with the Defendant, Meghan Markle, and her husband, Prince Harry of England,” the filing stated.

“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 Plaintiff’s reputation and which have subjected Plaintiff to humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale,” it added.

According to reports, Samantha Markle, Meghan Markle’s estranged sister, has also slammed Prince Harry and said that he is an ‘emotionally underdeveloped’ man who needs counselling.

Who is Meghan Markle’s sister Samantha?

Samantha Markle Grant is Meghan’s half-sister from her father’s side of the family. According to the Duchess of Sussex, she never really saw her sister while growing up in her father, Thomas Markle’s home, which she moved out of when he and her mother Doria Ragland divorced. Samantha is seventeen years older than Meghan and the former Royal hadn’t seen her “for over a decade” when she was in her 20s and even then, she only saw her for “only a day and a half” at best.

When news of Meghan’s engagement to Harry broke, Samantha started making headlines for dishing out details about her half-sister. “Suddenly, it felt like she was everywhere,” Meghan recalled in the documentary. “I don’t know your middle name. I don’t know your birthday. You’re telling these people you raised me, and you coined me Princess Pushy?”

Samantha’s biological daughter Ashleigh Hale point of view

In the docuseries Harry & Meghan, Samantha’s biological daughter Ashleigh Hale recalled that her mother had “resentment” towards Meghan when her relationship with Prince Harry progressed, which “seemed to get angrier and bigger.”

Ashleigh said in Netflix’s Harry & Meghan, “After the news about Harry and Meghan dating first broke, Samantha Markle pretty quickly began expressing a lot of angry words about Meg towards me.” “What was communicated to me was maybe some resentment, and it felt like no matter what I said, you know, her perspective didn’t change and seemed to get angrier and bigger.” Meghan exclaimed, “I hadn’t had a fallout with her. We didn’t have a closeness to be able to have that. And I wanted a sister!”

(With added inputs from agencies)

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