It’s safe to say Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping away from the Royal family is the celebrity story of the decade! (So far — we’re barely over a week in, LOLz!)
Between questions of what they would do next and how the rest of the fam was reacting we’ve barely had time to consider the legal ramifications.
Currently the Duke and Duchess are involved in lawsuits against multiple British tabloids over invasion of privacy, most recently with the publishing of a personal letter Meghan wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
So the question is, if they’re no longer in the position of senior members of the Royal family, what does that do to their legal fight?
Well, the biggest change is the whole “financially independent” part of their historic announcement — because lawsuits are EXPENSIVE! Solicitor Joshua Schuermann from London law firm Briffa explained to E! News:
“The announcement will most certainly affect their case even if it’s not strictly speaking in a legal manner. The first effect they will most certainly feel will be funding. That will affect the way they conduct the litigation.”
One thing they won’t have to do is change law firms — which actually may hint they’ve been thinking about leaving for a long time…
“It’s worth noting that they had already been using a different law firm than the one the family usually uses in defamation matters. They had already relied on their own initiative, rather than doing things the way the royal family would normally prescribe them. So maybe they were already planning this or maybe it’s a happy coincidence so it’s not like they have to start from scratch now.”
There are other Royal resources they’re turning their backs on as well.
“Even outside of the legal fees, there would have been a level of support and advice and PR which would have been made available to them. I think it’s safe to say the level of support they would have received as senior members of the royal family would have been available to them in full.”
Yeah, they’re definitely giving up a privileged position — but what about their legal position?
Does changing their official standing in the family change the legal arguments? After all, the defendants will certainly want to point to Meghan and Harry as public figures to excuse their behavior.
Well, another legal source, Stephen Welfare, partner at Royds Withy King Solicitors, told the outlet:
“The short answer is no, it will not affect Meghan’s legal case. Her claim is, in general terms, that her privacy has been invaded. She enjoys such human rights regardless of her status as a member of the British royal family, and if anything more so because the lower a person’s profile the less public interest there is in his/her private life. However being married to HRH Prince Harry is going to make her of public interest regardless.”
Sure it won’t change the status Meghan and Harry had at the time of the alleged invasion of privacy, but can they use their greater distance from the Royal spotlight to bolster their case anyway? In appearance to a jury, for instance?
Schuermann speculated:
“There is always a balancing act to be struck between the public interest and the right to an individual’s private and family life. They will likely be making the argument that by taking a step back from their duties to the royal family, that they will no longer be as much in the public interest and the details of their private life will no longer be as much in the public interest.”
Yeah, we reckon that’s going to be a tough sell. We mean, Prince Harry will always be famous, he’s been famous since before he was born, Royal duties or no! And we’re certainly no less interested in what they’ll do next. Let’s be real; it’s not like they are going to move to Bampton and open a cheese shop. They’ll still be famous. Schuermann agrees:
“I think there is, however, an argument to say that certainly, as it stands now, they still likely fall in the scope of public interest. This might change in five or ten years time if they successful extricate themselves from public life. But as it stands I don’t think this will necessarily affect their legal position too much.
Well, it looks like money is the only real change. But something tells us Meghan and Harry won’t have to pass around a hat or set up a GoFundMe for their legal fees.
Do YOU think they’ll be considered less famous in the future? Or is this just the beginning??
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