Texts Released in Court Reveal Royal Family 'Berated' Prince Harry Over Meghan Markle's Relationship With Her Dad

According to texts released by London's Court of Appeal on Friday, the Royal Family "berated" Prince Harry over Meghan Markle's relationship with her dad.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2020
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Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2020

Text messages released amid Meghan Markle’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited reveal the royal family “berated” Prince Harry over Markle’s strained relationship with her father.

In text messages obtained by People magazine, The Duchess of Sussex told her former communications chief, Jason Knauf, about her plans to write her father a letter after he revealed he’d be skipping her May 2018 royal wedding to Prince Harry.

“My thinking behind this is unlike a text or email it can’t be forwarded or cut and pasted to only share one small portion,” she wrote. “It also does not open the door for a conversation.”

“The catalyst for my doing this is seeing how much pain this is causing H [Harry],” Markle continued. “Even after a week with his dad [Prince Charles] 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?’”

She added, “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 is still doing it,’” she continued. “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.’”

Back in February, a judge ruled the Mail on Sunday newspaper violated Markle’s policy by publishing parts of the letter she wrote to her father in August 2018.

Markle recently discussed the ongoing case during a conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin on the New York Times DealBook Online Summit in New York.

“In terms of this appeal, I won the case and this issue, frankly, has been going on when I had no children at all; I now have two children as you know,” she explained. “It’s an arduous process.”

She continued, “But again, it’s just me standing up for what’s right, be it in this case or in the [case for economic and professional parity] we’re talking about today. At a certain point, no matter how difficult it is, you know the difference between right and wrong. You must stand up for what’s right, and that’s what I’m doing.”

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