Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, texted a former aide that Prince Harry faced “constant berating” from the royal family over her tumultuous relationship with her estranged father, messages released on Friday have shown.
The duchess sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, over five articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” letter to Thomas Markle, her father.
ANL has brought an appeal against a High Court judge’s decision to grant Ms Markle summary judgment — meaning she won her case without a trial.
During the hearing this week, ANL’s lawyers told senior judges they want to rely on new evidence from Jason Knauf — former communications secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — who claimed that the duchess wrote the letter with the understanding that it could be leaked.
After extracts of texts and emails between the duchess and Mr Knauf were used in court, further texts were made public on Friday following an application by the PA news agency and The Times.
The duchess previously told the Court of Appeal that the main purpose of the letter “was to encourage my father to stop talking to the press” after public criticism and a “media onslaught” surrounding Mr Markle.
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Brandon Maxwell, attends the Your Commonwealth Youth Challenge reception at Marlborough House on July 5, 2018 in London, England -
Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Givenchy, visit the Storyhouse on June 14, 2018 in Chester, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Carolina Herrera, and Delfina Figueras arrive for the Sentebale Polo at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club on July 26, 2018 in Windsor, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Emilia Wickstead, attend the official opening of the Anzac Memorial at Hyde Park on October 20, 2018 in Sydney, Australia -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Safiyaa, arrive at the Royal Albert Hall on March 7, 2020 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Emilia Wickstead, attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, 2020 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Givenchy, leave St George's Chapel after their wedding ceremony on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Dior, attends an event to mark the centenary of the RAF on July 10, 2018 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Martin Grant, visit Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a Sentaler coat, at a community market on January 14, 2019 in Birkenhead, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Figue, visits the University of the South Pacific on October 24, 2018 in Suva, Fiji -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Givenchy, attends The Fashion Awards at Royal Albert Hall on December 10, 2018 in London, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Carolina Herrera, and Prince Harry on February 25, 2019 in Rabat, Morocco -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Stella McCartney, and Prince Harry leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Oscar de la Renta, attend the Australian Geographic Society Awards at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney, Australia, on October 26, 2018 -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Erdem, and Prince Harry attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Self-Portrait, arrive at Fua'amotu Airport on October 25, 2018 in Nuku'Alofa, Tonga -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Safiyaa, arrive for a state dinner on October 23, 2018 in Suva, Fiji -
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in Ralph & Russo, pose for an official engagement portrait on December 21, 2017 -
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in Theory, attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub community and leisure centre in Cardiff, Wales, on January 18, 2018 -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Prada, Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II attend the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 26, 2018 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in Burberry, arrive at Social Bite cafe in Rose Street on February 13, 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland -
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in a coat by Line The Label, announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Zimmermann, arrive at Nausori Airport on October 23, 2018 in Suva, Fiji -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Roland Mouret, attend the Cirque du Soleil premiere of 'Totem' at Royal Albert Hall on January 16, 2019 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Jason Wu, attend the premiere of Disney's 'The Lion King' at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 14, 2019 in London, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a Reiss coat, arrives for her visit with Prince Harry to Canada House on January 7, 2020 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Jason Wu, arrive at the 100 Days to Peace gala in London, England on September 6, 2018 -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Theia, attend a state dinner at the Royal Residence on October 25, 2018 in Nuku'alofa, Tonga -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Karen Walker, attend a wreath laying ceremony at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park on October 28, 2018 in Wellington, New Zealand -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a Hugo Boss skirt, and Prince Harry at The University of Chichester Tech Park during an official visit to Sussex on October 3, 2018 in Chichester, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Brandon Maxwell, attends the Your Commonwealth Youth Challenge reception at Marlborough House on July 5, 2018 in London, England -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Oscar de la Renta, attend the Coach Core Awards held at Loughborough University on September 24, 2018 in Loughborough, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Givenchy, arrive at a public walkabout at the Rotorua Government Gardens on October 31, 2018 in Rotorua, New Zealand -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a Martin Grant coat, arrive at the Sydney Opera House on October 16, 2018 in Sydney, Australia -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Martin Grant, meets Prime Minister S Akilisi Pohiva on October 26, 2018 in Nuku'alofa, Tonga -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Brock Collection, arrives to visit the Royal Variety Charity's residential nursing and care home Brinsworth House, in Twickenham, London, on December 18, 2018 -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Veronica Beard, and Prince Harry visit District 6 Museum on September 23, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a Club Monaco trench, visits the Maranui Cafe in Wellington, New Zealand, on October 28, 2018 -
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Ralph Lauren, attends the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 14, 2018 in London, England -
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in La Ligne, pose with son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in an image released on March 8, 2021
“It was only when my father began criticising the royal family … that senior members of the family and their advisers expressed their concern over the public attacks, and expressed their desire to have them stopped,” she wrote in her evidence.
In the newly released text messages, sent to Mr Knauf while she was drafting the handwritten letter, the duchess can be seen expressing her frustration about the response of the royal family.
She wrote: “The catalyst for my doing this is seeing how much pain this is causing [Prince Harry].
“Even after a week with his dad and endlessly explaining the situation, his family seem to forget the context — and revert to ‘can’t she just go and see him and make this stop?’
“They fundamentally don’t understand so at least by writing, [Prince Harry] will be able to say to his family ‘she wrote him a letter and he’s still doing it’.
“By taking this form of action I protect my husband from this constant berating and while unlikely, perhaps it will give my father a moment to pause.”
During Prince Harry and Ms Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey this year, the couple laid bare their troubled relationship with the monarchy and the duke revealed he “felt led down” by the Prince of Wales.
He said his father stopped taking his calls as he attempted to map out his future role in the monarchy in late 2019, when the duchess was under intense pressure.
Prince Harry told Winfrey: “But at the same time — I will always love him — but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try to heal that relationship.”
During the Court of Appeal hearing, ANL’s lawyers argued that an article in People magazine in the US, which featured an interview with five of Ms Markle's friends, misrepresented the letter and made “nasty” allegations about Mr Markle.
Andrew Caldecott, representing ANL, said that the article falsely presented Mr Markle as giving “a cynical and self-interested response ignoring her pleas for reconciliation in a loving letter”.
In the newly released texts, the duchess told Mr Knauf the letter “does not open the door for a conversation”.
The court also heard that Mr Knauf provided information to the authors of Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand — leading to Ms Markle apologising for misleading the court about whether he had given information.
In his witness statement, Mr Knauf said the book was “discussed on a routine basis”, which was “discussed directly with the duchess multiple times in person and over email”.
In her evidence, made public on Wednesday, Ms Markle said: “When I approved the passage … I did not have the benefit of seeing these emails and I apologise to the court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time.
“I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.”
The new texts and emails show that in an email to Ms Markle in December 2018, Mr Knauf said he had spent “close to two hours” with the authors of the unauthorised biography.
“I took them through everything,” he wrote.
“They are going to time the book for run-up to the baby being born and it is going to be very positive.”
Mr Knauf also told the duchess that the book would be a “celebration of you that corrects the record on a number of fronts”, according to the authors.
At the end of the hearing on Thursday, the three senior judges said they would take time to consider their decision and give their ruling on ANL’s appeal at a later date.
