The UK Sun and Mail reported that lawyers appealing the amount of financial payout to Prince William and Kate Middleton for publishing topless photos of her sunbathing in France were planning to use “provocative images” of Meghan Markle, who recently married Prince Harry, in their appeal. But, Markle wasn’t mentioned after all. The Sun has apologized and the Mail updated its reporting.
iMediaEthics has written to the UK royal family’s spokesperson to ask if they complained over the reporting; the spokesperson declined to comment.
The Sun‘s July 8 apology reads:
“On 12 June 2018 we published an article headed “Meghan Markle’s sexy shoots mean Prince William and Kate Middleton should not have got £92k privacy payout, lawyers claim”.
The article reported that lawyers were intending to use provocative images of the Duchess of Sussex to support their argument that the magazine had paid too much in compensation for publishing topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge.
We now accept that there was no reference to the Duchess of Sussex or any photographs of her in the proceedings in France.
We apologise to the Duchess of Sussex for our error and for any distress caused.”
The Mail posted an update on its article reporting similar claims about Markle. That update reads: “Update: Since publication of this article we understand that the hearing of the appeal on the 13th June did not feature any reference to Meghan Markle or photographs of her.”