Text messages sent from Meghan Markle to her former communications secretary Jason Knauf have been revealed amidst the ongoing lawsuit with the Mail on Sunday.
In the messages, released on Friday, the Duchess of Sussex claimed Prince Harry experienced "constant berating" from his family, over difficulties between Meghan and her father Thomas Markle in the run up to, and after, the couple's 2018 wedding.
The messages also reveal Meghan had discussed the handwritten letter with her aide before it was sent, with the Duchess explaining "everything I've drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked".
Meghan sued the Mail on Sunday after it published the letter. Although the Duchess of Sussex won the case earlier this year on the basis of privacy and copyright, the Mail on Sunday appealed the decision.
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The paper is arguing that the messages contradict Meghan's case, due to the fact the Duchess recognised it could be leaked.
In the messages, Meghan explains her plan to hand write the letter so it can't "be forwarded, or cut and pasted to only share one small portion".
She says: "It also does not open the door for a conversation. My catalyst for doing this is seeing how much pain this is causing H.
"Even after a week with his dad and endlessly explaining the conversation, his family seem to forget the context - and revert to 'can't she just go and see him and make this stop?'
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"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.
"Obviously everything I've drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked so I have been meticulous in my word choice. but please do let me know if anything stands out for you as a liability."
Following the content of the messages being released earlier this week, Meghan said in a statement: "The proposition that saying that I recognised that it was possible that my father would leak the letter, albeit unlikely, is the same as saying that I thought it likely that he would do so is, I would suggest, absurd.
“It is correct that, as I said in my texts to Mr Knauf, the situation was putting significant pressure on my husband, both externally and by his family, and I felt strongly that I needed to do something about it.
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“I felt that, even if my attempt to stop my father talking to the media failed, at least my husband would be able to say to his family that I had done everything I could to stop it.”
She added: "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 minimized, were it to be exploited."
Earlier this week, Meghan apologised to the Court of Appeal after 'not remembering' she had instructed Jason to brief the authors of a biography being written about her.
In the formal apology, the Duchess of Sussex admitted that he had been told to liaise with Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the authors of Finding Freedom.
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Despite the couple previously claiming they "did not contribute", Jason said the book was "discussed on a routine basis" and "discussed directly with the Duchess multiple times in person and over email."
In a statement, Meghan said she accepted that Jason did provide information to the authors but the "extent of the information he shared is unknown to me".
"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," she added
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"I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court."
The Duchess also explained another reason why she had not discovered the emails sooner. In October 2020, lawyers adjourned the trial date due to the fact Meghan was pregnant.
"I was in the first trimester of my third pregnancy at the time, having suffered a miscarriage a few months prior, and was feeling very unwell," she said.
"My doctor advised me to avoid stress, particularly given the recent miscarriage days after the defendant threatened to break the confidentiality of the original 'sources' for the People magazine article, which resulted in my having to make an urgent application for an anonymity order.
"This was granted... but I found the process extremely stressful, and it took its toll physically and emotionally.
"I have at all times wanted to protect the privacy of those friends, while the defendant was, it seemed to me, doing everything it could to make this litigation as intrusive as possible."
At the hearing on Thursday, judges said they are taking time to consider their decision and will give their ruling at a later date.
Featured Image Credit: ShutterstockTopics: News, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry