MEGHAN Markle has today been hit with FIVE sensational bombshell allegations from court documents which add to growing claims about her heartfelt “private” letter to her dad.
The Duchess of Sussex, 40, previously claimed that the letter was written just for her father to see, but court papers have raised alleged contradictions in her explanation.
A witness statement from their former communications secretary Janson Knauf was made public for the first time today following a ruling from the High Court.
Mr Knauf gave Associated Newspapers his statement as part of their appeal against the Duchess of Sussex.
It comes after the newspaper published extracts of a five-page private letter she’d written to her dad begging him not to speak to the media about her.
It comes as:
- Meghan KNEW dad’s letter would leak and called him Daddy so ‘if it went public it would pull at the heartstrings’
- Meghan DID help Finding Freedom authors despite saying she had nothing to do with it, court docs allege
- Meghan refused Palace advice to visit Thomas Markle & blasts royals for ‘putting pressure on her and Harry’
- Five alleged ‘contradictions’ in Meghan Markle court docs over ‘heartfelt’ letter to dad Thomas
- Seven explosive bombshells in Meghan Markle court docs that question her credibility
Meghan won her battle at the High Court in February – but the publisher has appealed the decision.
A court will hear evidence from both sides over the coming days as part of the appeal.
These are the five most explosive revelations which threaten to derail her privacy claims in the courtroom.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
DADDY’ S GIRL
Documents today revealed that Meghan feared her private letter to her dad Thomas Markle, 77, would be leaked – picking her wording to pull on the public’s “heartstrings”.
Papers given to the court read: “She also asked a specific question regarding addressing Mr Markle as ‘Daddy’ in the letter.
“Saying ‘given I’ve only ever called him daddy it may make sense to open as such (despite him being less than paternal), and in the unfortunate event that it leaked it would pull at the heartstrings.
“Obviously everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked so I have been meticulous in my word choice.”
After initially penning the letter she texted Mr Knauf to say that she felt “fantastic” adding: “Cathartic and real and honest and factual. And if he leaks it then that’s on his conscience.
“And at least the world will know the truth, words I could never voice.”
The court was also told she was “happy for the public to read” the letter she sent her dad if he leaked it, despite launching the legal charge when the Mail on Sunday published it.
‘HEARTFELT’ LETTER
Meghan also admitted that she had been “meticulous” in her wording of the letter, stressing that she had “toiled over every detail which could be manipulated.”
The Duchess had previously described the note as “painful”, and pals told People magazine that she was “heartbroken”.
Her lawyer Justin Rushbrooke, QC previously described the 1,250-word letter as “a heartfelt plea from an anguished daughter to her father”.
But the new documents describe a letter that as redrafted on several occasions electronically, before being written out by hand.
Meghan also “deliberately” ended each page part way through a sentence so that a single one could not be “falsely presented” as the end of the letter.
In his statement Mr Knauf added: “In the event that it was leaked she wanted the full narrative as set out in the letter to be understood and shared.
“The Duchess wanted to make sure that if the letter became public it would assist with setting out her perspective on the problems with her father’s behaviour.”
THOMAS MARKLE’S HEALTH
Following their wedding in 2018, pals of the Duchess claimed that she had made a series of “worried” phone calls to her father over his health.
But court documents have today revealed that her concern over his wellbeing referred to in the letters was suggested by Mr Knauf, rather than the former actress herself.
In the week before the nuptials Meghan released her first solo statement from the Palace, which said: “Sadly, my father will not be attending our wedding. I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health.”
The written statement from Mr Knauf states: “I responded by text suggesting we speak by phone to discuss some details in her letter regarding the order of events.
“My recollection is that this call did not happen. The Duchess accepted one small drafting suggestion I made to mention her father’s health in the letter.”
In a witness statement, Thomas, added: “The letter didn’t say she loved me. It showed no concern about the fact I had suffered a heart attack.”
‘BREAKING POINT’
During the High Court hearing in January the Duchess said she felt forced to write the letter to her dad after they reached “breaking point”.
Her barrister told the court: “It was written, in short, by daughter who felt she had reached a breaking point with her father.”
However today’s court case has heard allegations that there was a different motive behind the letter to Thomas Markle.
She claimed that her “catalyst” for doing so was “seeing how much pain” the situation was causing Harry.
But the Duchess has also sensationally claimed in a new witness statement made public today that she was “pressured” into writing the letter by senior Royals – referred to as A and B
She said she was originally told by a Palace aide she should fly to Mexico and meet Mr Markle in person, which she felt was “completely unrealistic”.
Instead, she reignited the discussion over how to “deal with the concern surrounding” her dad and “his dealings with the media” while visiting the senior royal B with Harry.
Meghan added that while that discussion took place senior royal A called on the phone to speak to her.
Her statement said: “Once the call ended, we continued discussions with aenior member B, and it was only after these discussions, and in accordance with the advice that I received from the two senior family members, as stated in my re-amended reply, I decided, that I would write a letter to my father.”
She also accused the royals of “putting significant pressure” on Harry and herself to deal with her father and said she “felt strongly” she had to “do something about it”.
In his statement Jason Knauf said that her motivation being Harry was “different” to the reasons discussed with himself and other senior Royal household staff.
He added: “The Duchess said she was writing the letter in part to allow the Duke to demonstrate to his family that some action was being taken by the couple to stop Mr Markle from continuing to engage with the media.”
LETTER THEFT FEAR
Meghan successfully won her case against Associated Newspapers on the grounds that the letter was “private” and only for her father, after extracts were published in 2019.
It is claimed that the letter was from an “anguished” daughter to her father, pleading with him to stop speaking to the media.
Documents shown in court today state that she redrafted the letter several times, and made several copies which were sent to various places in the US over fears it could be stolen.
Meghan revealed that she was “so concerned” that the letter may be stolen while being delivered to her father that she entrusted a copy to her business manager.
She said: “I was so concerned that the letter might get stolen while being FedExed from a return address labelled Kensington Palace to my father in Mexico, given that his name was now globally known, that I sent it via my trusted business manager, who was based in California and whom my father knew personally.”
It was also stated that she kept a copy of the letter for her own files, as well as in the safe in her lawyers’ office.
However she previously refused to go to speak to her father in person, despite being encouraged to do so by senior royals, and chose to pen the letter instead, fearing that it could be leaked.
