The first hearing in Meghan Markle’s legal action against a British newspaper over its publication of a “private and confidential” letter to her estranged father will go ahead next week.

The Duchess of Sussex is suing Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, over an article which reproduced parts of her handwritten letter sent to Thomas Markle, 75, in August 2018.

Sections of the letter were published in the newspaper and online in February last year, and it was announced the duchess would be bringing legal action in October.