Family ‘berated’ Harry over Meghan’s father
Duke and Duchess told to explain situation during week with Prince of Wales, text messages to aide show
THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX has accused the Royal family of “constantly berating” Prince Harry over the behaviour of her estranged father, saying they “fundamentally” did not understand why she did not fly to his home in Mexico to “make this stop”.
The Duchess said she and her husband had been “endlessly explaining” the situation with Thomas Markle to the Prince of Wales, after staying with him for a week.
At the time, in August 2018, Mr Markle had been giving a series of media interviews about his daughter after he pulled out of attending her wedding that May, causing distress to the Duke and Duchess, and deep concern in the Royal household.
According to newly-released text messages, written to her then press secretary, Jason Knauf, as she crafted a letter to her estranged father, the Duchess said she wanted to protect her husband from the “pain” the situation had caused.
“Even after a week with his dad [the Prince of Wales] 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?’” the Duchess wrote on Aug 22 2018. “They fundamentally don’t understand, so at least by writing, H [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.”
The Sussexes are reported to have stayed with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at the Castle of Mey in Scotland in the week beginning July 28.
There, amid a schedule of country pursuits, they are believed to have discussed what to do about Mr Markle and his very public declarations.
In August 2018, the Duchess said, she spoke with two senior members of the Royal family – one in person and one by telephone – who agreed she would write a letter.
In her witness statement to court, the Duchess explained she did not feel able to fly to see her father in person, believing it impossible to reach him privately without risking bringing “yet more embarrassment” on her in-laws.
Saying “senior members of the family and their advisers expressed their concern over the public attacks” on the Royal family from Mr Markle and wanted them “stopped”, the Duchess added: “I was especially sensitive to this as I had very recently married into the family and was eager to please them.”
During that August, at the time of the text messages, the Duchess was in the process of “meticulously” drafting a letter to her estranged father in which she told him of her heartbreak over his behaviour surrounding the wedding.
The letter was mentioned by one of her friends, speaking anonymously to
People magazine, with extracts later published by the Mail on Sunday.
The Duchess of Sussex has already won a High Court privacy battle with
The Mail on Sunday, after a judge found the publication of extracts of her letter to Thomas Markle was unlawful.
Associated Newspapers Limited is seeking to have that summary judgment overturned in favour of a trial.
After a three-day hearing this week, the Court of Appeal judges will return their findings within the next few weeks.
Earlier this week, the court heard select details of text messages between the Duchess and Mr Knauf, in which she had “obviously” written the letter to Thomas Markle “with the understanding that it could be leaked”.
Saying she would address her estranged father as “Daddy” in a handwritten letter – believing it would “pull at the heartstrings” in the event it was leaked – she said that if he shared it then “at least the world will know the truth”.
At the close of the three-day hearing, the media applied for the full schedule of text messages after the Duchess herself said – in her witness statement – that she was “puzzled” to see them quoted in extract.
She has told the court that she had previously been unable to find the texts “because an automatic deletion system had been implemented on my phone by a cyber security specialist brought to Kensington Palace for my devices in 2016”.
The texts are shown to be sent from “Tilly”, a pseudonym used by Mr Knauf for the Duchess.
The messages also include emails between the Duchess, Prince Harry, and Mr Knauf in which they discuss a briefing meeting with the authors of Finding Freedom.
They show the Duchess’s email signature: “Sent from my iphone.
Please excuse any technological mishaps. I’m a Luddite.” Mr Knauf, texting in response, told her: “My initial view is that this is a very good idea.
“The draft letter is very strong – enough emotion to be authentic, but all in resigned sadness rather than anger. “Also, it is factually focussed in a way that does not read like a legal filing – that is not easy to do.”
He added: “Also, there are a few tweaks to the order of events as you’ve set them out that could be a bit stronger – I think it’s slightly even worse than you remember.”
In a follow-up message, Mr Knauf suggested she reference her father’s health issues: his explanation for not attending the wedding.
“The only thing I think is essential to address in some way is the ‘heart attack’,” he wrote.
“That is his best opening for criticism and sympathy. “The truth is you tried desperately to find out about the medical treatment he said he was receiving and he stopped communicating with you. You begged him to accept help to drive him to hospital, etc, and instead of speaking to you to arrange this he stopped answering his phone and spoke only to TMZ.”