The Duchess of Sussex claims in a new court filing that she was “unprotected” by the royal “institution” in its ongoing battle with a British tabloid.
NBC News obtained court documents filed with the London High Court of Justice by its legal team as part of the Duchess’s case against the Daily Mail.
At the heart of the ongoing legal battle is the publication in the London tabloid of a private letter sent by the former Meghan Markle to her separated father, Thomas Markle, four months after missing her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. The Daily Mail also released excerpts from court documents on Wednesday.
The duchess said in the legal filing that she did not know that one of her friends would mention the letter while speaking anonymously with People magazine. The Daily Mail has questioned that denial.
The court filing also states that she did not know about the February 2019 People article until the day it was published and did not know who the anonymous friends who spoke to the magazine were until much later.
Days after the People story was published, the Mail on Sunday released the private letter.
In it, Meghan pleaded with her father to “stop lying and create so much pain” and said his actions had broken his heart into “a million pieces.”
Meghan’s legal team called the publication of the letter a “serious violation” of privacy.
The court documents also make multiple references to Meghan’s mental health struggles, from feeling “unprotected” by the real “institution” to feeling “vulnerable” when she was pregnant with her 1-year-old son, Archie.
Her claims echo an interview with the London ITV in October in which she said she struggled under intense media attention during her pregnancy and as a new mother. She also hinted at the lack of support from the royal family, saying “not many people have asked if I’m okay.”
Court documents also reveal that her 2018 royal wedding produced “tourism revenue of more than a billion pounds” for Britain, which is more than $ 1.3 billion.
She and Harry are now settling into their new life in Los Angeles, where she spoke about the Black Lives Matter movement and racial injustice in a video directed at her high school alma mater last month.
Harry also spoke about racism during a virtual ceremony on Wednesday for the Diana 2020 Award on what would have been his mother’s 59th birthday, Princess Diana.
“My wife recently said that our and previous generations have not done enough to correct past mistakes,” he said. “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry we didn’t take the world to the place you deserve it to be.”
