Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are taking legal action against 4 different media outlets, but experts believe their efforts will backfire
- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are fighting a war they cannot win, according to experts who believe their lawsuits against four media outlets will tarnish the couple's image.
- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry currently have ongoing lawsuits against The Mail on Sunday, The Sun, Splash News, and a paparazzo who has not yet been identified.
- Legal expert Amber Melville-Brown believes this is the couple's "attempt to control the British tabloids."
- However, a source close to the couple told Insider this isn't the case.
- "Sometimes you just want to protect your family, and there is nothing more to it than that," the source said.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have at least four ongoing lawsuits against various media outlets, including the Mail on Sunday, The Sun, Splash News, and a paparazzo who has not yet been identified.
While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have sued members of the press in the past, it seems the couple currently have more ongoing public lawsuits than they ever had while senior royals.
Royal, branding, and legal experts believe this is part of the Sussexes' "attempt to control the British tabloids" after they cut off all contact with The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Express, and The Daily Mirror in April.
Markle and Harry could be fighting a war they cannot win
Markle announced she was suing Associated Newspapers last year after one of its publications, the Mail on Sunday, published a private letter the duchess wrote to her father Thomas Markle.
Markle was ordered to pay $87,000 to the newspaper after a pre-trial hearing in June, when the court agreed to strike out part of her claim that the Mail acted dishonestly by omitting parts of the letter.
However, the court sided with Markle by preventing The Mail from publishing the names of her five friends who spoke about the letter in an anonymous interview.
"Their attempt to control the British tabloids was misjudged in my view," Amber Melville-Brown, head of the media and reputation practice at international law firm Withers, told Insider.
"As a privacy lawyer I value and will fight for the rights of my clients," she said.
"But I fear that here, even if Meghan wins her legal case in her claims for misuse of private information, and infringement of her rights under the Data Protection legislation and in copyright, this is a war that she cannot win."
At around the same time, The Duke of Sussex filed legal proceedings against The Sun newspaper over "illegal interception of voicemail messages," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed to Insider in October last year.
Harry's case is likely related to historic incidents of phone hacking in the 2000s, The Guardian previously reported.
Melville-Brown went on to say that if the couple's intention is to exclude the tabloids, they will fail, and will only "make the press even more persistent."
However, a source close to the Sussexes insists this isn't their intention.
"Most people would understand the need to take action when you see lies being told about you and your family, and can see the unfairness," the source told Insider.
"Sometimes you just want to protect your family, and there is nothing more to it than that.
"To people who say it's controlling, I would say it's simply the case of ensuring there are no more lies," they added.
"That's why the law exists, to be able to challenge these things."
Alienating the media may backfire on the couple, according to a branding expert
No matter the intention behind the lawsuits, it's clear the couple won't stop when the Mail on Sunday case is over.
Markle recently announced she is taking legal action against Splash News after one of its photographers took photos of her and Archie during a walk on Vancouver Island.
"They have clearly been advised — or more likely they have decided — that they will sue every time coverage crosses a line for them, so as to put media companies on notice that the risk of a lawsuit is ever-present," Clare McHugh, royal commentator and author of "A Most English Princess," told Insider.
The couple launched a lawsuit against a paparazzo whose identity is not known after they used a drone to take photos of their home.
Earlier this week, Prince Harry also filed a legal complaint against The Sunday Times after it wrote that he canceled an Invictus Games charity fundraiser because of his new deal with Netflix.
Rather than just provide an official statement denying the claims, which Harry did, he also sent a legal letter to the newspaper. It is not yet known whether the duke plans to take further legal action against the publisher.
Eric Schiffer, a branding expert and chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, believes that the couple's new approach will negatively impact their image.
"Buckingham Palace has a degree of sophistication in how they approach media relations, and Meghan and Harry are approaching it like two people who are just learning the game," Schiffer told Insider.
"It's like they're attempting to pull out machine guns but firing out marshmallows to a media that will smile and continue to report," he said.
"I think what it sends is a message that they want privacy, and they aren't looking to capture more attention.
"The risk in doing that is that they alienate aspects of the media, and that can lead to negative results for their brand," Schiffer added.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wrote explosive letters to 4 British tabloids cutting off all contact