Meghan Markle’s week from hell: private texts about the British royal family revealed, a court apology, and palace aide accusations that she used her royal title ‘out of context’

Say what you want about her, but here at STYLE, we have a soft spot for Meghan Markle. Sadly for our favourite former royal, it’s no secret 2021 has been a tough one for her. And this past week was undoubtedly one of her most challenging yet, thanks to ongoing court battles and family drama.

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She had to apologise to a court for “forgetting” book discussions

Meghan has apologised for misleading a British court about the extent of her cooperation with the authors of a sympathetic book about her and Prince Harry.

She is embroiled in a court battle in London over a British newspaper’s publication of portions of a letter she wrote to her estranged father Thomas Markle after her 2018 marriage to Harry.

She sued the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website for breach of privacy and copyright. A High Court judge ruled in her favour in February, saying publication of the letter was “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful”.

Associated Newspapers is now trying to overturn that decision at the Court of Appeal. The publisher argues that Meghan wrote the letter knowing it might be published, and made private information public by cooperating with Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, authors of the book Finding Freedom.

The duchess’ lawyers have previously denied that she or Harry collaborated with the authors. But the couple’s former communications director, Jason Knauf, said in evidence to the court that he gave the writers information, and discussed it with Prince Harry and Meghan.

In a witness statement, Knauf said the book was “discussed directly with the duchess multiple times in person and over email”. Emails released as part of Knauf’s statement showed he also emailed Prince Harry to discuss the book and to say he would meet the authors.

Knauf said Prince Harry replied: “I totally agree that we have to be able to say we didn’t have anything to do with it. Equally, you giving the right context and background to them would help get some truths out there.”

In a witness statement made public on Wednesday, November 10, Meghan accepted “that Mr. Knauf did provide some information to the authors for the book and that he did so with my knowledge, for a meeting that he planned for with the authors in his capacity as communications secretary”. She added that “the extent of the information he shared is unknown to me”.

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The duchess said she did not remember the discussions with Knauf when she gave evidence earlier in the case and said the following: “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,” she added.

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Associated Newspapers says Knauf’s evidence also undermines Meghan’s claim that she did not intend the letter to be seen by anyone but her father.

In his witness statement, Knauf said the duchess “asked me to review the text of the letter, saying ‘obviously everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked’”.

Knauf said Meghan asked whether she should address her father in the letter as “daddy”, adding that “in the unfortunate event that it leaked, it would pull at the heartstrings”.

In her own written evidence, Meghan said she had not believed that her father “would sell or leak the letter, primarily because it would not put him in a good light”.

“To be clear, I did not want any of it to be published, and wanted to ensure that the risk of it being manipulated or misleadingly edited was minimised, were it to be exploited,” she said.

The appeal continued Thursday, November 11, before three senior judges. A ruling is expected at a later date.

The royals were annoyed by Meghan’s dad and his drama

Meghan said she wrote the 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, November 12, as part of a protracted court battle.

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She said in the texts that she wanted to respond to her father because Prince Harry was upset by fielding questions about him in light of his frequent media appearances.

Meghan wrote to Knauf 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 stop.

A palace aide says Meghan used her royal title “out of context”

Back at Buckingham Palace, an aide claimed the Duchess of Sussex used her title “out of context” when discussing political topics, The Times of London reports.

Meghan called US senators, including Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Senator Susan Collins of Maine, to advocate for paid parental leave in the US.

Speaking to The Times, an unnamed palace aide said members of the royal family usually “steer clear of those kinds of things”.

“Otherwise you’re using the title out of context and people will question your motive. The royal family has no say in American politics. Campaigning is important, but there’s a difference between campaigning on ‘issues’ like the environment and mental health, and aligning yourself with policies,” the aide said.

“The Duchess of Sussex doesn’t have the right to have a more powerful voice [on the issue] than any other mother in America. She should not be playing in politics,” they added.

Prince Harry stands up for his wife

Rushing to Meghan’s defence this week, Prince Harry said the term “Megxit” used in reference to him and his wife is misogynistic and was coined by an internet troll before getting picked up by British tabloids.

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The Duke of Sussex’s comments on the term, often used to describe the couple’s decision to step back from royal life, came during his appearance on Wired’s “The internet Lie Machine” panel on Tuesday, November 9, where he and other panellists discussed misinformation on social media.

Recalling the findings from research carried out by Bot Sentinel, a Twitter analysis service that identified 83 accounts as responsible for around 70 per cent of the hate content targeting him and Meghan, Prince Harry said “Megxit” was a prime example of online hatred.

“Maybe people know this and maybe they don’t, but the term ‘Megxit’ was or is a misogynistic term,” the 37-year-old said. “It was created by a troll, amplified by royal correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew into mainstream media.”

It’s the relationship between troll accounts and the British press which Harry said worried him most on Tuesday’s panel.

“I know the story all too well, I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness and obviously I’m determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Meghan claims Instagram should invest in a “dislike button”

More than a year after quitting social media, Meghan says Instagram should have a dislike button to help prevent negative comments.

“I think there are strong ways to make strong changes on social media platforms and with the media in general, but people have to be brave enough to do it,” Meghan said during an appearance at The New York Times’ DealBook conference on Tuesday, November 9.

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“If you look at Instagram, for example, there’s a like button or there’s comments. So you have to, if you disagree with it, comment in a really vitriolic way,” she said during the conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin. “As opposed to, if there was a dislike button, wouldn’t that hugely shift what you were putting out there? Because you could just like it or dislike it.”

Meghan added: “Now, you either like it or you have to say something negative, and it’s just adding to this really unfortunate cycle that I think is having a ripple effect on women across the board.”

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