Meghan Markle & Prince Harry Could Be Sued 'For Libel & Breach Of Privacy' If They Reveal Who Made Racist Remark, Claims British Lawyer
In Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple alleged that a member of the royal family had "concerns" over the color of their son Archie's skin.
Though their words shocked the world and left everyone wondering who the individual was, the pair decided not to identify them — and it's a good thing they didn't, as attorney Mark Stephens CBE told Mail+ that they could have faced legal consequences.
Stephens has worked with the royal family in the past, as he represented James Hewitt when rumors of an affair with Princess Diana surfaced.
"First of all the exact words that were said would have to be identified, and the context they were made in," he noted. "Was it racist or was it just an inquiry? The words may have had a racist overtone but were they intended in that way?"
"Essentially what you will find is that the individual, if named, may have been able to sue for libel and breach of privacy if it was a private conversation between two individuals where there was a reasonable expectation of privacy and for the contents of the conversation not to be shared with a third party, the media," Stephens explained.
And even though the parents-of-two didn't identify the specific person, just claiming that the words came from a member of the royal family could still get them in trouble, as the lawyer stated that "you can defame a group by not saying who said it."
"The royal approach until very recently has been to never complain and never explain but they have moved away from that so I do wonder," he shared of the ongoing situation. "They will have to step up on them at some point, as long as they go uncontroverted some people will believe the truth of them."
After the Sussexes' tell-all aired this past March, rumors swirled that Queen Elizabeth's daughter Princess Anne was the culprit, but Prince William insisted to reporters a few days later, "We are very much not a racist family."
