The painful betrayal that led Meghan Markle’s father to deliver the letter his daughter wrote to him

Thomas markle He kept his daughter’s explosive letter a “top secret” for six months but decided to hand over excerpts of the letter after feeling betrayed by a public “attack” orchestrated by friends of the Dukes of Sussex on the magazine. People.

The claim that Markle was provoked into divulging the details of the letter is central to the case being handled by the London Court of Appeals, which last week heard a series of explosive revelations when one of Markle’s former assistants provided new evidence. that leave Harry’s wife in a difficult situation.

Jason Knauf, who was Meghan Markle’s press secretary during her time in the royal family, provided the court emails and text messages showing how she had sought their advice while composing the letter to her father.

Meghan wrote: “Obviously everything I wrote is with the understanding that it could leak, so I’ve been meticulous in my choice of words, but please let me know if something stands out as a risk. If you filter it, then that’s on your conscience, but at least the world will know the truth. Words that I could never express publicly.

According to the text messages that were released recently, the Duchess asks Knauf to write the letter as she wanted to protect her husband from the “pain” he had caused her. And it targets her husband’s family. “Even after a week with his father and explaining the situation to him, his family seems to forget the context and go back to saying ‘can’t you go see him and make this stop?’ wrote on August 22, 2018.

“They fundamentally don’t understand it. So if I write to you, H [Harry] You will be able to say to your family ‘she wrote him a letter and he continues to do so’. By taking this form of action, I protect my husband from this constant reprimand, and although it is unlikely, I may give my father a moment of pause. “Meghan continued in the same message.

Meghan and Harry apparently stayed with the Prince of Wales and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at Mey Castle, Scotland, in the week of July 28, 2018. There, it is believed that discussed what to do with Thomas Markle and his public appearances.

The 40-year-old Duchess won a privacy violation battle in High Court against Mail on Sunday after the tabloid published excerpts of the letter to her estranged father after marrying the queen’s grandson. Elizabeth II in 2018. Publisher Associated Newspapers is now appealing to overturn that court decision.

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) wants that summary judgment to be annulled in favor of a trial. At the beginning of the year, the Superior Court determined that the disclosure of that letter was illegitimate, which avoided going to trial, but now ANL is appealing that ruling before the Court of Appeal, arguing that the case should go to trial.

Publisher Associated Newspapers argues that The former Californian actress wrote the letter knowing it could be published and made private information public by cooperating with Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, authors of the book “Finding Freedom.”

During the three-day appeal hearing last week, Meghan was reported to have told her press aide that she had deliberately chosen to address the letter to “Daddy” to “melt people’s hearts” if the content was leaked to the media.. Knauf replied: “It’s such a strong and clear letter – with just the right amount of emotion. I hope you are well after writing it ”. And he suggests ordering the facts in the story better so that it has a greater impact in the event that it reaches the press.

Messages highlight the tensions within the British royal family, with Meghan saying that Harry, whom she calls ‘H’, was “Constantly reprimanded”.

Markle also admitted to the British court that she had provided information to the authors of an unofficial biography about her and her husband, Prince Harry, Contrary to what he had previously indicated in the trial against the British newspaper.

In September of last year, attorneys for the Sussexes said the couple “did not collaborate “ with authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in their biography “Finding Freedom.”

But the evidence presented last week showed that both Meghan and Harry had granted Knauf permission to speak to the perpetrators.

In a witness statement, Knauf said the book was “Discussed directly with the Duchess several times in person and by email.”

In written testimony presented to the court, Meghan apologized for misleading the court by not specifying it in the first instance.

“I acknowledge that Knauf provided information to the authors and that he did so to the best of my knowledge and belief,” he explains, but adds that “the extent of the information that (he) shared is unknown.”

“I apologize to the court for not having recalled those exchanges at that time,” continues the Duchess of Sussex in her statement. “I had absolutely no desire or intention to mislead the defendant or the court”.

Prince Harry, 37, sixth in the order of succession to the British crown, repeatedly denounced the pressure of the media on his wife and made it the main reason for his departure from the royal family, effective since April 2020.

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