The Duchess of Sussex claimed Prince Harry faced “constant berating” from members of the Royal Family over the strained relationship she had with her father, text messages reveal.
Earlier this year, Meghan, 40, successfully sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of MailOnline and The Mail on Sunday, over five articles that reproduced parts of her “private” letter to Thomas Markle in 2018.
Although the High Court originally ruled the publication was unlawful, ANL is now appealing the decision.
Text messages between Meghan and the Sussexes’ former communications secretary Jason Knauf have been made public in light of this week’s appeal hearing.
One, published on Friday, reveals the duchess’s frustrations towards the other royals.
Advertisement
In it she claimed they “fundamentally don’t understand” her reasons for parting ways with her father and that she only wrote the letter to “protect my husband from this constant berating”.
Image: Meghan and Harry made a number of claims during their interview with Oprah Winfrey this year
Another read: “The catalyst for my doing this is seeing how much pain this is causing H.
More on Duchess Of Sussex
Related Topics:
“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?'”
During their joint interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this year, Prince Harry said he had felt “let down” by his father in the run-up to them stepping down as senior royals.
He claimed the Prince of Wales stopped taking his calls as the couple tried to negotiate their position in the Royal Family towards the end of 2019.
“But at the same time – I will always love him – but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship,” he told the TV talk show host.
Earlier this week, Mr Knauf claimed in evidence that Meghan wrote the letter to her father in the knowledge he might leak it.
Her grounds for suing ANL were based around privacy and copyright.
Mr Knauf also said he provided information to Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durant, the authors of the unofficial biography of the Sussexes – Finding Freedom.
In a witness statement, Mr Knauf said the book was “discussed on a routine basis”, including “directly with the duchess multiple times in person and over email”.
Meghan had previously claimed they were not involved in the book, but apologised for “misleading the court” over her recollections of certain conversations with Mr Knauf.
At the Court of Appeal hearing on Thursday, the three senior judges in the case said they will take time to consider their decision and give their ruling on ANL’s appeal at a later date.
A judo Olympian has said her family is “devastated” after the discovery of body in the search for her missing brother.
Lubjana Piovesana, 28, appealed for help to find her younger sibling, Luis, 26, on Saturday. He had not been seen since the early hours of Friday morning.
A body was found in the River Frome near Napier Road in Eastville, Bristol, at around 6pm today, Avon and Somerset Police said.
Formal identification is yet to take place, the force added.
In a post on Instagram, Ms Piovesana wrote: “Hello everyone, Luis has been found.
“We are completely devastated but he has passed away.
“I am grateful for everyone’s support. And I am so sorry this happened.
“Luis was my little brother and loved by everyone. I wish he could have seen the love from everyone. He will be remembered by us all.”
The post was signed off with a dove emoji.
Image: Luis Piovesana did not have any money or his mobile phone with him when he went missing, police said. Pics: Avon & Somerset Police
Mr Piovesana was last seen at around 3am on Friday at the Eastgate retail park, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from where the body was found.
He had travelled there by taxi from a venue in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s, a 10-minute drive away.
The 26-year-old’s family spent the weekend searching for him, and asked people to check their sheds and gardens.
His partner, Laurin Bohler, said loved ones had travelled from Birmingham to help.
Mounted officers and police drones were also involved in the investigation.
Ms Piovesana competed for Team GB before switching to the Austrian team, and defeated British competitor Lucy Renshall in the women’s -63kg judo event at the Paris Olympics last year.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his son’s girlfriend after she returned home from the school run.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were called to an address on Bigyn Road in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, on 5 July last year.
Sophie Evans, 30, had sustained 72 separate injuries on the outside of the body, “all but three of them new injuries”.
Richard Jones, who is now 50, believed he was “being taken advantage of financially” by Ms Evans and his son, with whom she was in a relationship.
While the purpose of Jones’s visit was “purely normal”, he confronted her on that morning about his suspicions and Ms Evans’s reaction was such that Jones “lost [his] temper”.
He subjected Ms Evans to “gross violence” before ultimately strangling her and leaving the property to run errands, including ordering a new bank card and buying pastries from a bakery.
Image: Richard Jones. Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police
‘Last time on their school run’
During sentencing on Monday, the defendant kept his head bowed for most of the hearing.
He will have to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Evans was the mother of two young children.
Passing his sentence, Judge Geraint Walters said Ms Evans “had just taken her two children for the last time on their school run” prior to the attack.
“She wasn’t to know that when she parted company with them that morning,” he added.
The court heard the Jones believed he was being defrauded by Ms Evans and his son.
“There is clear evidence, that in the days leading up to this, that you had begun harbouring thoughts that Sophie Evans and your own son were in fact financially scamming you,” he said.
“What precisely brought about that view is difficult to determine.”
Judge Walters said Jones “lost [his] temper when [he] didn’t get the answer that [he] thought [he] deserved”.
He added that, having lost his temper, the defendant “subjected [Ms Evans] to gross violence over a period of time, before you ultimately extinguished her life by strangulation”.
The court was told in evidence that at the time of the attack, Ms Evans was wearing only a bath towel.
‘The rock of our family’
In a victim personal statement, Ms Evans’s sister Kerry Quinlan told the court she was “the rock of our family”.
She said Ms Evans was taken from them in a “senseless and cruel act”.
“Words cannot express fully how much of a loss this has been to her children,” she added.
“When they cry themselves to sleep wanting their mum, she isn’t there and never will be.”
Ms Quinlan added that Jones had “taken everything from us, all in the most despicable way possible”.
Ms Evans’s partner at the time, and the defendant’s son, Jamie Davies, said in a victim personal statement, read on his behalf, that they had both “trusted” Jones, and that Ms Evans had even been planning the defendant’s 50th birthday.
“The thought of having to live my life without Sophie causes me extreme pain and heartache,” he added.
Prosecuting, Michael Jones KC said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s previous convictions and the fact Ms Evans was murdered in her home.
In mitigation, David Elias KC said there was a “lack of premeditation”.
A third man has been charged with murder over a house fire that killed a mother and her three children in Bradford last year.
Bryonie Gawith, 29, Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle were killed in the fire on 21 August 2024.
Sharaz Ali, 39, from Bradford, has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
He will appear at Bradford Magistrates Court today.
Two other men, Mohammed Shabir, 44, and Calum Sunderland, 25, both of Keighley, are due to go on trial next week after pleading not guilty to murdering Ms Gawith and the three children, and attempting to murder Ms Gawith’s sister, Antonia.
The children’s father Jonathan said at the time he was “absolutely distraught” by the “sudden loss” of his fiancee and “three beautiful children”.
“Bryonie and I were together for a long time, and we had a good life together. She was a beautiful woman and a loving mother to Oscar, Aubree and Denisty,” he said.
“I loved them with all my heart and if I had the chance, I would take their place in a heartbeat. I cannot imagine life without them.”
A family statement added: “Our B (Ms Gawith) was the life and soul of the party, music was a big part of her life, she loved music, singing and dancing, she would always be singing and dancing with Chuch (Denisty), Oggy (Oscar) and Strawberry (Aubree).
“B was always a really happy, joyful, bubbly beautiful woman, who cared for everyone and was loved by everyone, her kids were everything to her, her whole life.
“Oggy had the cheekiest smile, he was cheeky but he was a shy boy, Strawbs was shy and bashful with big blue eyes and blonde hair and Chuch was a beautiful, confident, outgoing and creative young girl.
“We are still trying to comprehend what has happened to our beautiful family. No words can describe how we are feeling and no words could ever make up for the profound loss we are now faced with.”