Duchess Meghan wins legal battle against UK tabloid

Britain's Duchess of Sussex Meghan has won her legal battle against UK tabloid The Mail on Sunday.

A court dismissed an appeal by the newspaper on Thursday (December 2).

The Mail had sought to overturn an earlier High Court decision that the paper had infringed the royal's privacy and copyright, by publishing parts of a handwritten letter she'd sent to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018.

Just three months after her wedding to Queen Elizabeth's grandson, Prince Harry.

The Court of Appeal in London threw out the Mail's request, stating the contents of the letter were "personal, private and not matters of legitimate public interest."

In a statement, the duchess said, "This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right."

She also said the tabloid industry "conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create."

There was no immediate response from the paper.

Meghan penned the five-page letter to her father after a collapse in their relationship in the run-up to her wedding, which her father missed due to ill health.

He had also admitted to posing for paparazzi pictures.

The appeal was launched after a high court judge ruled earlier this year in Meghan's favor, concluding the paper should print a front-page apology and pay her legal bills.

Lawyers for the Mail, which published the letter extracts in February 2019, say that 40-year-old Meghan had penned the letter knowing it could become public, a suggestion she rejected.

The decision spares Meghan from having to appear at a trial, where both she and her father would have given evidence.