Meghan to get £1 plus undisclosed sum after court fight with Mail on Sunday

The publisher of The Mail On Sunday has agreed to pay the Duchess of Sussex £1 nominal damages for misuse of private information plus an undisclosed sum for copyright infringement after a court privacy battle, a document shows.

Meghan sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), also the publisher of MailOnline, over five articles that reproduced parts of a "personal and private" letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle in August 2018.

The duchess won her case last year, when a High Court judge ruled in her favour without a full trial, and Court of Appeal judges subsequently dismissed an appeal by Associated Newspapers.

Some detail of the money the duchess will receive emerged on Wednesday, when a written case order, made has been made by appeal judges and summarises the conclusion of the Court of Appeal litigation, was made public.

The appeal judges' order also said Associated Newspapers would pay the lawyers' bills run up by the duchess during the appeal litigation.

Judges said those legal costs would be assessed if not agreed.

Meghan's spokesperson described the undisclosed sum for copyright infringement as "substantial" and said it would be donated to charity.

They said the duchess was clear from the beginning that this case was primarily about the difference between right and wrong.

The fact that Meghan won on privacy and copyright matters demonstrated the strength of both claims, they said.

The spokesperson added that, after winning the case on a summary judgment, Meghan chose to recover the profit the paper had made from the letter, relating to copyright, rather than a financial remedy of damages regarding the privacy part of the case.

The appeal judges' order said Associated Newspapers had agreed to pay the £1 nominal damages for misuse of private information, and the "confidential sum" for copyright infringement by January 7.