Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has won her bid to delay her privacy case against Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper by citing a "confidential" matter.
The royal is suing Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and sister website MailOnline, for publishing sections of a letter she wrote to her estranged father Thomas Markle in August 2018.
A trial was due to take place in January, but at the virtual U.K. High Court hearing on Thursday, Mr Justice Warby granted an adjournment until autumn 2021.
According to British newspaper The Sun, the "primary basis" on which she sought the delay was "confidential".
"The right decision in all the circumstances is to grant the application to adjourn," he said. "That means that the trial date of January 11 2021 will be vacated and the trial will be refixed for a new date in the autumn."
The Duchess' lawyers also applied to appeal the judge's decision to allow Associated Newspapers chiefs to amend their defence, in view of their claim, denied by Meghan, that she and Prince Harry co-operated with a recent biography, Finding Freedom. However, the judge refused their application.
Meghan's team have also lodged an application for a Summary Judgment, which, if granted, would avoid a trial in which she would have to give evidence. A decision on the application was not made on Thursday, as it was only filed four working days ago.
She is seeking damages from the Mail on Sunday for alleged misuse of private information, breaches of the Data Protection Act and infringement of copyright over five articles published in February 2019 which included parts of the 2018 letter.
In their defence, Associated bosses claim Meghan herself leaked details of the correspondence through her friends, who then spoke to People magazine.
