Meghan Markle is set for a court showdown with her half-sister, Samantha Markle, on September 9, it has been confirmed. The Duchess was sued by her relative over remarks made in the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah Winfrey and Netflix documentary but lost in March 2024.

A judge at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta, Georgia, previously set a tentative date for Samantha to try and revive her libel case against Meghan in the week commencing August 11. However, a court filing seen by the Express shows that an oral argument is now scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, 2025, in Jacksonville, Florida, at 9 a.m., local time.

60-year-old Samantha is Meghan’s half-sister from her father’s side of the family and has not shied away from speaking out about her in the past.

Samantha first filed her libel lawsuit against Meghan in late 2022 – two years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down as senior working royals. At the time, one of the Duchess’ lawyers said they would “give it [the case] the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves.”

Speaking after the release of the couple’s docuseries, Harry & Meghan, Samantha’s lawyers claimed that a number of comments by the Duchess and an interviewee on the Netflix programme – when viewed together – amounted to a campaign to unfairly undermine Samantha.

When interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan revealed that she “grew up as only child” and that she would like to have had siblings to grow up with – with Samantha and Tom Markle Jr. having already moved out of Thomas Markle Sr’s home.

Samantha’s team previously alleged that the show guided viewers into believing that Meghan’s half-sister played a role in orchestrating the hate campaign against the Duchess of Sussex. They also said this is an unfair characterisation.

Meghan never explicitly mentioned Samantha when addressing the hate messages targeting, and the section of the episode dedicated to that topic related to trolling being carried out by several accounts.

The Duchess’ lawyers said in their own past filing: “An implicit or express statement that [Samantha] belongs to a hate group spreading disinformation about Meghan is an opinion protected by the First Amendment.”