Meghan Markle wrote the letter to dad Thomas “knowing it would end up in the newspapers”

The court battle between Meghan Markle and the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday – the two British tabloids from her cited in court for publishing excerpts from the private letter sent to dad Thomas in August 2018 – goes on. Harry’s wife won the case last February. According to the High Court of London, Harry’s wife “he had reasonable expectations that the letter would remain private“. So the newspapers were guilty.

But now, in an appeal hearing, British tabloid lawyers have brought a bombshell witness: Jason Knauf, former Sussex and Cambridge communications secretary. Knauf said outright that Meghan asked for her advice on drafting that letter. Because he wrote it “Expecting it would be leaked”. Not only that: in the letter the Duchess addressed her parent affectionately calling him “daddy” just “to touch the heartstrings” of the audience. Knauf’s statements show, according to British tabloid lawyers, that the letter for which the Duchess is suing “It was not an intimate communication intended only for his father”.

Knauf in his testimony added that Harry and Meghan they really participated – despite saying no – in the writing of the flattering biography Finding Freedom. The two would have given their former communications secretary a list of complaints to be provided to the authors of the book. For instance the onslaught of the media and cyberbullying to which they would be perpetually subjected. From the documents presented in court, it appears that the Sussexes have said plainly to Knauf that their involvement in the writing of the biography was absolutely denied.

Last January tabloid lawyers they had already submitted documents to the High Court claiming that Meghan – who does not hear dad Thomas Markle from 2018, before the royal wedding with the prince Harry – wrote the offending letter precisely to be disclosed. That letter was meant to clean up her image, to free her from the fame of “Cold, indifferent daughter”. The judge then did not believe that version.

But now, on appeal, there is the testimony of Knauf. A key figure also in the feud between Harry and William. As royal expert Robert Lacey revealed, in October 2018 the then Cambridge and Sussex communications secretary sent an official email in which he revealed that Meghan “He behaved bully with the palace staff”. William found out and confronted his brother. First there was a furious phone conversation, which ended with Harry after defending his wife with the sword he threw down William’s phone. Then ‘the Duke of Cambridge went to Harry’s in Kensington and there was one showdown face to face“. It ended badly, with William yelling at Harry “I don’t want you in my family anymore”.

The rest, we all know: the Megxit, the Sussex decision to move to America, the accusations fired on TV against the royal family. All seasoned with Meghan’s battle against the tabloids who allegedly violated her privacy. The appeal case is expected to last three days. The judgment, however, it is expected in the next months. To find out how it will end we just have to wait.