A newspaper publisher being sued by Meghan Markle has denied that its articles were responsible for causing a "rift" between her and her estranged father.
Lawyers for Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, said the Duchess of Sussex's claims that the stories led to a row are "objectionable".
The lawyers also said her contention that her "vulnerable" dad Thomas, 75, was "harassed and humiliated", "manipulated" and "exploited" should not form part of her case.
Meghan, 38, is suing over five articles - two in the Mail on Sunday and three on MailOnline - which were published in February 2019 and reproduced parts of a handwritten letter she sent to her father in August 2018.