A US judge has announced the trial date of Samantha Markle’s defamation lawsuit against the Duchess, bringing Meghan Markle to court for a new battle.

Samantha, age 57, is suing Meghan Markle, wife of Prince Harry, over allegations made in an Oprah Winfrey interview and an unauthorised memoir titled Finding Freedom.

A Florida court has set a trial date of October 2023 for the defamation action if it is not settled or resolved through mediation.

Samantha, who is claiming damages of $75,000 (£57,000), disputes Meghan’s claim in her television appearance that she “grew up as an only child.”

She also claimed Meghan told “rags-to-royalty” about her rags-to-riches background at the expense of her father’s family.

Samantha argues that the Finding Freedom book subjected her to “humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale”.

It comes after Meghan’s legal team filed documents in July asking the Florida court to dismiss the case. However, Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell permits the proceeding to continue.