SENIOR royals warned Meghan Markle not to pursue her bitter court battle over a leaked letter to her estranged father and feel she has now “been found out”, it’s reported.
The Duchess of Sussex was forced to apologise to the court for “forgetting” to tell the judge about emails showing her attempts to influence a biography about her and Prince Harry.
And Meghan’s sensational texts to her former press secretary accusing the royals of “constantly berating” Prince Harry over her estranged dad’s actions were also shared in court.
The Mail on Sunday newspaperrevealed explosive new evidence as it tried to overturn an earlier ruling that it had breached Meghan’s privacy and copyright by disclosing details of her letter to dad Thomas, 77.
But The Celeb Reportday Times claims family members and one trusted lawyer all advised the Duchess of Sussex, 40, to drop the case, saying they are “frustrated” by the fall-out.
A royal source told the newspaper: “There is frustration all the way to the top, because a lot of people told them that it was unwise to proceed with the case.
“Now you have been found out. “They [the royal family] will think they should never have taken it to court.”
The report said Gerrard Tyrrell, a long-time lawyer to the royals, tried to “dissuade” Meghan and husband Harry from fighting the case.
But instead the couple hired Schillings, a firm known for its aggressive tactics on behalf of celebrities.
A source told The Celeb Reportday Times: “Before Harry and Meghan pulled the trigger, we wanted to walk them through what it would look like if it went all the way and face up to that.”
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However the paper reported Prince Charles, who turns 73 on Monday, had not given “specific advice” on the media, saying he was “sympathetic to the issue, but not didactic about the solution”.
A palace aide told The Celeb Reportday Times: “Perhaps this gives them the understanding of why the royals don’t like to get into court cases.
“It’s not like this wasn’t going to happen.
“There is no gleeful dancing about it, nobody is wearing the “told you so” T-shirt, they are family members, but in the long run this is probably why you don’t want to get involved.”
Another royal source told the paper: “If you can’t trust the witness evidence of a member of the royal family, if that unravels, then you’re b*****ed.
“To anyone who follows their story closely, it’s obvious that if she didn’t tell the whole story in court, and got caught out, of course it casts doubt on anything she has said.
“A lot of us who follow it closely know a lot of what she said to Oprah [Winfrey] wasn’t true.”
Meanwhile, the palace has confirmed allegations of bullying by Meghan towards her staff are still under investigation.
The Court of Appeal last week heard submissions by the Mail on Sunday’s parent company, Associated Newspapers, calling for an earlier High Court ruling to be set aside.
Meghan’s lawyers oppose the appeal. A ruling is expected at a later date.
BOMBSHELL TEXTS
It comes after Meghan’s sensational texts slamming the Royal’s for “berating” Harry were made public.
The Duchess of Sussex sent the message to Jason Knauf in August 2018 after staying with Prince Charles as she began drafting a letter to Thomas Markle.
She told Mr Knauf that the “catalyst” for writing the letter was “seeing how much pain” it was causing Prince Harry.
The messages were revealed in full on Thursday after Meghan herself said she was “puzzled” to see them quoted in extract.
It came at a time when Mr Markle missed his daughter’s wedding to Prince Harry after suffering a heart attack and repeatedly spoke to the media.
Meghan also explained how she fears the letter would leak and that she had been “meticulous” in her wording.
The explosive claims were revealed at the end of a sensational three-day case brought by the Mail on Sunday to appeal against Meghan’s privacy win.
Meghan sensationally won the row in February 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.
She said the articles in February 2019 misused her private information, infringed her copyright and breached the Data Protection Act.
‘I FORGOT’
The evidence came as Meghan apologised to the court for not remembering an email exchange agreeing Mr Knauf could provide information to the authors of Finding Freedom.
Emails were released by the Court of Appeal showing how she and Harry had heavily briefed their press spokesman Jason Knauf before he met writers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand two years ago.
Mr Knauf said in his witness statement how the couple authorised “specific cooperation” for certain topics for the bombshell biography.
Bombshell messages sent by Meghan have revealed five alleged contradictions in her court claims, with her credibility threatened after the explosive evidence was submitted to the High Court.
It comes as Meghan and Harry were pictured singing one of Archie’s favourite songs as they visited a US Army base in the wake of their bombshell court case
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, to speak with Afghan refugees who had recently arrived there.
New pictures show the couple speaking to women and children, in a classroom, at the event which took place before hosting an armed forces lunch on Thursday.
More than 10,000 Afghans evacuated when their country fell to the Taliban are being accommodated temporarily at a compound in the base as part of Task Force Liberty.
Meghan even joined in with an English class and learned Dari words – leading a round of “heads, shoulders, knees and toes.”
The kids were told that the song is a favourite of the couple’s two-year-old son Archie.
