Harry faced ‘constant berating’ from Royal Family, Meghan told ex-aide
The Duchess of Sussex texted a former aide that Prince Harry faced “constant berating” from the royal family over her strained relationship with her estranged father, messages released yesterday have shown.
The duchess, 40, 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, 77.
ANL has brought an appeal against a High Court judge’s decision to grant the duchess 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 yesterday following an application by the PA news agency and the Times.
The duchess previously told the Court of Appeal 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.
In her written evidence, she said: “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.”
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 Roy al F amily.
She wrote: “The catalyst for my doing this is seeing how much pain this is causing H.
" Even after a week with his dad and endlessly explaining the situation, his family seem to forget the context - and revert to ‘ca n’t she just go and see him and make this stop?’”