Fresh Meghan texts show her view Harry faced 'constant berating' from royals

12 November 2021, 17:49 | Updated: 12 November 2021, 19:06

Texts from the Duchess of Sussex reveal that she told a former aide that Prince Harry faced a “constant berating” from the royal family over her relationship with her father.

The messages, released on Friday, show Meghan can be seen expressing her frustration about the response of the royal family to Thomas Markle, when he criticised them.

Meghan, 40, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, over five articles which included parts of a "personal and private" letter to her father.

ANL has appealed a High Court decision to give Meghan summary judgement, allowing her to win her case without a trial.

This week, ANL lawyers said they want to use new evidence from the Sussexes' ex-communications secretary, Jason Knauf, who claimed Meghan wrote the letter believing it could be leaked.

Meghan previously said the letter's purpose was to encourage her father to stop talking to the press because of public criticism and media scrutiny surrounding him.

Read more: Meghan Markle apologises for 'misleading' court in privacy battle

Andrew Pierce gives take on Meghan Markle's experience with Royal Family

Texts made public on Friday include one sent to Mr Knauf as she drafted the letter.

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 'can't she just go and see him and make this stop?'

Read more: Andrew Pierce gives take on Meghan Markle's experience with Royal Family

"They fundamentally don't understand so at least by writing H 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 have previously spoken about the difficulties in Harry’s relationship with his father, Prince Charles, and the royal family.

Camilla Tominey reacts to Meghan being forced to apologise to court

Meghan told Mr Knauf in her texts that her letter "does not open the door for a conversation".

The Court of Appeal has also heard that Mr Knauf provided information to the authors of the Finding Freedom book by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.

This lead to Meghan apologising for misleading the court about whether he had given information.

Meghan said in evidence: "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."

Three senior judges hearing the case will consider their decision and rule on ANL's appeal at a later date.