Texts from Meghan Markle say she wrote an emotional letter to her estranged dad to stop other royals complaining about him to Prince Harry
Stefan Jeremiah/AP Photo
- Meghan Markle said she wrote a letter to her father to "protect" Prince Harry, text messages show.
- In the texts to a former aide, she describes other royals "berating" Prince Harry about her dad.
- The texts were released in a legal battle between Markle and an outlet that published the letter.
Meghan Markle said she wrote a five-page letter to her estranged father to "protect" Prince Harry from "constant berating" from other royals who were annoyed by him.
The description came in text messages made public on Friday as part of a protracted court battle between Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and a news outlet which published the letter.
She said in the texts that she wanted to respond to her father, Thomas Markle, because Harry was upset by fielding questions about him in light of his frequent, often-embarrassing media appearances.
Screenshots of the messages were published by MailOnline. It is part of the media group being sued by Markle after The Mail on Sunday published excerpts of the letter Markle wrote, which she argued invaded her privacy and breached her copyright.
Markle wrote to Jason Knauf, one of her most senior aides, that Harry had spent a week "endlessly explaining" the situation to Prince Charles and other royals.
She wrote that the royals didn't understand that she wouldn't be able to stop her father's inventions by going to see him.
She said that by writing to her father, Prince Harry would at least be able to tell them "she wrote a letter and he's still doing it," the text messages said. She added that she thought the letter was unlikely to make Thomas Markle stop.
The text messages were released by the Court of Appeals in London on Friday after being asked by the PA news agency and The Times of London, according to the BBC.
They are evidence in a case brought by the publisher of The Mail on Sunday, which is attempting to overturn an earlier ruling that it had breached Markle's privacy and her copyright by publishing the letter she wrote.
It has argued that Markle's argument that the letter was private should not hold, asserting that she expected it to become public.
The text messages show Markle mentioning the possibility that the letter might be leaked, a possibility that appeared to influence how she drafted the message.
In a witness statement from Meghan that was previously provided to Insider by her representatives, she said she did not want any part of the letter to be published.
Insider reached out to the Duchess of Sussex for comment but did not immediately receive a response.