The Duchess of Sussex has apologised to the Court of Appeal after forgetting that she authorised a senior aide to collaborate with the authors of a biography.
Meghan has previously insisted that she has not collaborated with Omid Scobie or Carolyn Durand, the authors of Finding Freedom.
However, a new email has emerged from the Duchess authorising her former communications chief, Jason Knauf, to brief the authors.
Emails presented in court show that Mr Knauf advised Harry and Meghan that it was “not a good idea” to put the biography’s authors in touch with their friends, telling them: “Being able to say hand on heart that we did not facilitate access will be important.”
In reply, Prince Harry said: “I totally agree that we have to be able to say we didn’t have anything to do with it”.
He added: “Equally, you giving the right context and background to them would help get some truths out there.”
Meghan gave Mr Knauf a list of briefing points on what he should discuss with the authors which included information on her relationship with her family and a row over a wedding tiara.
Harry wrote: “Also, are u planning on giving them a rough idea of what she’s been through over the last 2yrs? Media onslaught, cyber bullying on a different scale, puppeteering Thomas Markle etc etc etc.
“Even if they choose not to use it, they should hear what it was like from someone who was in the thick of it. So if you aren’t planning on telling them, can I ?!”
In a written apology to the court, Meghan said: “I apologise to the Court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time.
“I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the Defendant or the Court.”
She continued: “Not only do I refer to the background information shared with Mr Knauf as “reminders”, as much of it was information that he had already requested of me dating back to 2016 when he had asked me for a timeline relating to my family to enable him to engage with the media on enquiries, it is also a far cry from the very detailed personal information that the Defendant alleges that I wanted or permitted to put into the public domain.”
Speaking of the letter to her father which was published by the Mail On Sunday, the Duchess said: “Had I wanted to have my private letter shared in this book, as the defendant falsely claims, this clearly would have been an opportunity to do so.”
The publishers of the Mail on Sunday are currently appealing a decision earlier this year which saw the Duchess of Sussex win a court case that found publishing the letter was a misuse of her private information. The legal case continues.
