Megan Markle and Prince Harry will be deposed in her estranged half-sister Samantha Markle’s defamation case, a Florida judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell dismissed Meghan’s motion to avoid testimonies, ruling that the Duchess of Sussex “does not show that unusual circumstances justify the requested stay, or that prejudice or an undue burden will result if the court does not impose a stay,” CNN reported.
“[Meghan] does not satisfy the high standard required to stay discovery pending the resolution of a dispositive motion,” the judge added.
Samantha, 58, had demanded that Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, be deposed in separate interviews, claiming in court documents obtained by Fox News Monday that “to date, the duchess has not agreed to schedule one single deposition.”
Samantha also requested the depositions of her father, Thomas Markle, her daughter Ashleigh Hale, former royal aide Jason Knauf and online security expert Christopher Bouzy.
Samantha is suing Meghan for defamation based on “demonstrably false and malicious statements” made to a “worldwide audience” during the “Suits” alum and her husband’s bombshell March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Samantha has accused Meghan of orchestrating a campaign to “defame and destroy” her and Thomas’ reputation and credibility. The suit alleged Meghan did so “in order to preserve and promote the false ‘rags-to-royalty’ narrative” that she has “fabricated about her life to the royal family and the worldwide media.”
Samantha further claimed Meghan told “lies designed to destroy [Samantha’s] reputation” that have subjected her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale.”
Samantha also denied that she and Meghan did not spend much time together growing up as well as Meghan’s claim that Samantha is a “high school dropout.”
Samantha additionally shut down Meghan’s claim that she had changed her last name to Markle after news of Meghan’s relationship with Harry first broke in 2016.
The court filing also alleged that Meghan had “published and disseminated false and malicious statements” about Samantha in a 2020 book by royal biographers, “Finding Freedom.”
Samantha has requested a trial by jury. She is seeking $75,000 in damages.
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Meghan filed to dismiss Samantha’s case in June 2022, saying the accusations were “meritless.”
“We do not empanel juries to rule on whether two people are ‘close,’ or whether one genuinely feels that they ‘grew up as an only child,’” her lawyer argued in court documents at the time. “Courts are not equipped to adjudicate the legitimacy of a person’s feelings about their childhood and relationships. Nor should they be.”
Meghan’s attorney also told TMZ the suit was “baseless and absurd” and “a continuation of a pattern of disturbing behavior.”
“We will give it the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves,” he added.
Meghan has asserted that she never had a relationship with Samantha and even said in her 2022 Netflix docuseries, “Harry & Meghan,” that her half-sister has fabricated how close they are.
“I don’t know your middle name. I don’t know your birthday,” she said of Samantha. “You’re telling these people you raised me, and you coined me Princess Pushy?
“I hadn’t had a fallout with her. We didn’t have a closeness to be able to have that. And I wanted a sister!”
Meghan claimed she was in her early 20s the last time she saw Samantha.
Meanwhile, her estranged father said in March 2022 that he was willing to testify in Samantha’s case.
“I’ve been trying for almost four years to get to see my daughter and her ginger husband in a courtroom face-to-face. … I’d be thrilled to come to court and talk and defend my oldest daughter,” Thomas, 78, said at the time.
Thomas also said he believes Meghan does not have a shot at winning against Samantha and urged the duchess to settle the case.
“There are so many obvious, obvious lies that are immediately challenged that I can’t imagine Meghan even going into the court with this,” he said. “She can’t defend the things she said.”
Thomas has been on the outs with Meghan for years and infamously did not attend her wedding to Harry in May 2018.
The Sussexes also have tension with Harry’s brother, Prince William, and their father, King Charles III, after the redheaded royal dragged his family in his recently released memoir, “Spare.”
Harry and Meghan currently live in her native California with their two kids — son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 1 — after resigning from their royal duties in January 2020.
Reps for Meghan and Harry did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
