London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Sep 20, 2026

Meghan told ex-aide she wrote to estranged father to protect Harry

Meghan told ex-aide she wrote to estranged father to protect Harry

The Duchess of Sussex said she chose to write to her father, Thomas Markle, to protect Prince Harry from the Royal Family's "constant berating" over his media interviews, text messages reveal.

Meghan told ex-aide Jason Knauf the royals did not understand why she could not visit her estranged father's home in Mexico to "make this stop".

She also said she had seen the "pain" the situation was causing Prince Harry.

The messages were released by a court on Friday after a media application.

Meghan, 40, won her privacy case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Mail on Sunday, earlier this year, when the High Court found its publication of her letter to her father - sent in August 2018 - was unlawful.

But ANL brought an appeal to overturn the ruling, which has been the subject of hearings at the Court of Appeal this week. The ruling is due at a later date.


This long ongoing court case is an attempt to protect the privacy of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex but in bringing the action it is, in some ways, doing the opposite.

The obvious anger and distress caused by the Mail on Sunday publishing extracts of a deeply personal letter has led to the release of a series of court documents which reveal arguments and disagreements from behind closed doors.

The fact that Harry and Meghan felt under pressure from the Royal Family to resolve the difficult relationship with her father, Thomas, has been discussed at length in court.

These text messages which mention what she feels was the "constant berating" of her husband over the issue of her father reveal something of the level of feeling in the days leading up to the letter being written.

It is also worth noting that this was taking place in the summer of 2018, just three months after the happy scenes at their wedding when Prince Charles walked Meghan down the aisle at Windsor.

The latest revelations come a day after the Court of Appeal heard Mr Knauf, the couple's former communications chief, "regretted" not giving evidence in her High Court case against ANL.

After extracts of texts and emails between Meghan and Mr Knauf were used in court, further messages were released on Friday following an application by the PA news agency and the Times newspaper.

In the newly released text messages, sent to Mr Knauf while she was drafting the handwritten letter to her father, the duchess said she was motivated to write to her father due to the "pain" the situation was causing Prince Harry.

She wrote: "Even after a week with his dad 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 accused the Royal Family of "fundamentally" failing to understand and that by writing to her father, her husband would be able to tell them "she wrote him a letter and he's still doing it".

The duchess added that she was doing this to "protect my husband from this constant berating and while unlikely perhaps it will give my father a moment to pause".

However, she told Mr Knauf the letter "does not open the door for a conversation".

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were pictured at an event in New York on Wednesday


On Wednesday Mr Knauf, who is due to stand down from his current role as the chief executive officer of the Royal Foundation at the end of the year, said in a witness statement that the duchess had written the letter to her father with the understanding that it could be leaked.

The Court of Appeal also heard this week that Mr Knauf had been asked by Meghan to pass information to Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the authors of the Finding Freedom biography - leading to the duchess apologising to the court for forgetting about emails sent about the book.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ed Sheeran Tour Faces Backlash After Macklemore Is Removed Over Pro-Palestinian Remarks
Vandalism of Traffic Cameras Intensifies Across Parts of England
Nearly 300 Evacuated as Fire Hits Grand Burstin Hotel in Folkestone
King Charles Warns AI Executives About Risks From Uncontrolled Technology
Church of England Apologises for Role in Historical Forced Adoption Practices
UK Debate Over Online Speech Intensifies After Arrest Figures Draw Scrutiny
Oxfordshire Village Holds Symbolic Independence Vote Over Asylum Accommodation Plan
Nigel Farage and Richard Tice Sue National Crime Agency Over Alleged Banking Data Leaks
Apple Introduces Stricter Age Checks for UK Accounts
BBC Cash Reserves Fall 66% to £125 Million as Broadcaster Restructures
McLaren Announces £500 Million UK Investment and Plans 1,000 Jobs
Green Party Wins Historic Gorton and Denton By-Election as Labour Falls to Third
Burnham Government Prepares October Budget Under Growing Fiscal Pressure
UK Energy Suppliers Pull Fixed-Price Deals as Wholesale Markets Turn More Volatile
Bank of England Holds Rates at 3.75% as Middle East Energy Shock Raises Inflation Risks
Addison Lee Founder Loses £20 Million UK Tax Tribunal Case
BrewDog Creditors Face Losses on About £190 Million of Debt
Harrods Seeks to Recover Abuse Compensation Costs From Mohamed Al Fayed’s Estate
Ed Davey Targets Reform UK as Liberal Democrat Conference Opens
Great Britain Retail Sales Rise 0.5% in August
NHS England Approves Life-Extending Treatment for Incurable Breast Cancer
Proposals to Limit NHS ADHD Diagnoses Draw Criticism From Patient Groups
Resolution Foundation Warns of Housing Cost Crunch for Low-Income UK Families
BBC Cash Reserves Fall to Decade Low as Annual Deficit Reaches £121 Million
Millisecond Software Error Triggered Major UK Air Traffic Control Disruption
Twenty Women Underwent Unnecessary Mastectomies During NHS Cancer Care
Sensitive UK Police Data Found Vulnerable to Access by Foreign Actors
British Steel Faces Renewed Pressure for a Long-Term Financial Plan
MPs Urge Government to End Thames Water Restructuring Talks With U.S. Hedge Funds
Andy Burnham Warns of Difficult UK Budget Choices as Inflation Returns to 3.1%
England Tightens School Food Standards With Restrictions on Deep-Fried and High-Sugar Foods
Oxfordshire Village Votes Symbolically to Leave UK Over Proposed Asylum Centre
Michael Marra Elected Leader of Scottish Labour
BBC Cash Reserves Fall Sharply as Financial Pressures Mount
George Osborne Calls for UK to Rejoin EU Customs Union
UK Explores Joining Canada-Led Global Defence Bank
Thirlwall Inquiry Highlights Management Failures Surrounding Lucy Letby Crimes
Parliamentary Committee Calls for New UK Law to Address AI Risks to Human Rights
UK Considers Giving Regional Mayors Greater Oversight of Water Companies
UK Opposition Presses Burnham for Stronger Response to Russian Security Threats
Reform UK Faces Scrutiny Over £72 Million in Donations as Political Finance Rules Tighten
Millisecond Software Failure Behind UK Air-Traffic Outage That Cancelled More Than 2,000 Flights
Bank of England Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% as Energy Prices Complicate Inflation Outlook
Burnham Warns of Difficult Choices in October Budget as UK Inflation Rises to 3.1%
Addison Lee Founder Loses £20.5 Million Non-Domicile Tax Case
BrewDog Creditors Face Heavy Losses After Collapse
Thirteenth Metropolitan Police Officer Dismissed Over Charing Cross Conduct
Oxfordshire Village Votes Symbolically to Leave UK Over Asylum Accommodation Plan
NHS Approves Life-Extending Treatment for Women With Incurable Breast Cancer
Software Defect Blamed for Major UK Air Traffic Disruption
×