Court documents from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s court case against British tabloids are shedding light on new details on the Meghan’s relationship with her estranged father, Thomas Markle.
As a refresher, the Duchess of Sussex filed legal action against Mail On Sunday’s publisher, Associated Newspapers – for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement after the newspaper published excerpts of a handwritten letter from Meghan to her father, which she sent after their royal wedding in 2018.
In a 33-page response to the publication, Meghan’s U.K. lawyers shared several text messages that the Duchess and Duke of Sussex have sent Thomas in the days leading up to the wedding, which her father ended up not attending.
According to the documents, Harry repeatedly tried to get in touch with Thomas five days before their wedding. In a series of texts, dated May 14, 2018, Harry tried to get Thomas to talk to them.
The first text read: “Tom, it’s Harry and I’m going to call you right now. Please pick up, thank you.”
He later texted again: “Tom, Harry again! Really need to speak to u. U do not need to apologize, we understand the circumstances but ‘going public’ will only make the situation worse. If u love Meg and want to make it right please call me as there are two other options which don’t involve u having to speak to the media, who incidentally created this whole situation. So please call me so I can explain. Meg and I are not angry, we just need to speak to u. Thanks.”
And in the third text, he wrote: “Oh any speaking to the press WILL backfire, trust me Tom. Only we can help u, as we have been trying from day 1.”
The document then alleged that instead of replying, Thomas issued a statement to TMZ that he had gone to the hospital after suffering a heart attack, and claimed that that was how Meghan found out his medical condition – she didn’t get the info firsthand.
On May 15, 2018, Meghan texted her dad: “I’ve been reaching out to you all weekend but you’re not taking any of our calls or replying to any texts … Very concerned about your health and safety and have taken every measure to protect you but not sure what more we can do if you don’t respond … Do you need help? Can we send the security team down again? I’m very sorry to hear you’re in the hospital but need you to please get in touch with us … What hospital are you at?”
Then, 10 minutes later, she wrote again, saying, “Harry and I made a decision earlier today and are dispatching the same security guys you turned away this weekend to be a presence on the ground to make sure you’re safe… they will be there at your disposal as soon as you need them. Please, please call as soon as you can.. all of this is incredibly concerning but your health is most important.”
The document goes on to say that, in light of the “aggressive press intrusion,” Meghan even arranged for a car that would take Thomas “to an alternative location for some time before the scheduled flight to London [for the royal wedding], and prior to Mr. Markle’s cardiac problems, but he would not get into the car.” Harry has also “pleaded with Mr. Markle to let them help him.”
The court documents also claim that Meghan “did not know that a number of her friends agreed to give an interview about her to People magazine.”
The Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers previously said it stands by the original story it published and will defend their case vigorously, arguing there was “huge and legitimate” public interest in members of the royal family and their “personal relationships.”
The Duchess of Sussex responded with a brief statement saying that any claims of freedom of expression by the defendant to publish the contents of the letter are outweighed by her expectation of privacy.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl points out the significance of Harry and Meghan’s text messages to Thomas: “We’re seeing a different narrative emerge. We’ve heard from Thomas… that he tried to reach out to Meghan and his calls and texts went unanswered. But here are new text messages from Meghan and Harry clearly reaching out to Thomas at this time.”
A hearing in relation to the case is set to take place on Friday (April 24), but will be held remotely due to the coronavirus outbreak.
