Meghan Markle's Messages With Former Aide Revealed

Duchess of Sussex admits the couple gave aide OK to cooperate with unauthorized biography
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 11, 2021 2:41 AM CST
Meghan Markle's Messages With Former Aide Revealed
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for the Salute to Freedom Gala Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, in New York.   (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Meghan Markle admitted to the court that she and Prince Harry did indeed cooperate, via a former aide, with the authors of an unauthorized biography of the couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have long denied having anything to do with Finding Freedom, released last year, but after messages between Markle and her former press secretary were revealed in court, she was forced to apologize to the court for misleading it on the matter in a 2018 statement, the Guardian reports. The former aide, Jason Knauf, is the one who accused Markle of bullying staff. Markle's statement to the court says she did not remember the messages between her and Knauf when she unintentionally misled the court by saying she didn't know if her communications team had been involved.

The Daily Beast notes the book is "hugely flattering" to the royal couple and includes "intimate details." Knauf has told the court he discussed the matter "directly with the duchess multiple times in person and over email" on a routine basis, and that she provided him with briefing points to share with the authors. In an email with Prince Harry, Knauf says the British royal replied to him that, "I totally agree that we have to be able to say we didn’t have anything to do with it. Equally, you giving the right context and background to them would help get some truths out there. The truth is v much needed and would be appreciated, especially around the Markle/wedding stuff but at the same time we can’t put them directly in touch with her friends."

The new information has come to light as the Daily Mail appeals Markle's win in her lawsuit against the British tabloid for leaking a letter she wrote her father. Knauf, who is currently the chief executive of Prince William's foundation, also revealed communications between him and Markle about that letter, claiming she wrote it very carefully so that if it were leaked, it would have to be leaked in full rather than taken out of context (she hand wrote it, numbered the pages, and stopped every page in the middle of a sentence). Markle also responded to that portion of Knauf's revelations in court: "To be clear, I did not want any of it to be published, and wanted to ensure that the risk of it being manipulated or misleadingly edited was minimized, were it to be exploited." (More Meghan Markle stories.)

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