Meghan Markle ‘furious’ over Palace’s failure to defend her ‘against true stories’

Legal documents say she felt unprotected by the royal ‘institution’ - but insiders claim press team were powerless

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
Senior royals labelled ‘vipers’ by those closest to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
(Image credit: Ben Birchall/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The Duchess of Sussex felt “unprotected” by the Palace because the royal press team could not defend her against true stories, according to insiders.

Papers filed at the High Court say that Meghan Markle suffered “tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health” as a result of UK media scrutiny during her pregnancy. The former working royal was “unprotected by the institution, and prohibited from defending herself”, her lawyers say in documents relating to her lawsuit against The Mail on Sunday for alleged breach of privacy.

Her friends also felt ‘silenced’ by Kensington Palace and unable to defend her”, adds The Sun.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Times reports that the “silence from Kensington Palace left the duchess frustrated” and that her “anger grew over two strands of stories dominating the news agenda about her: her relations with staff, especially the number who had quit, and the criticism of her by her family, especially Samantha Grant, her half-sister”.

But sources told the newspaper that the press team were unable to deny the reports because they were largely true.

“The stories were a drop in the ocean compared to what was going on,” the source said.

“No one thinks this is going to end well,” another source adds. “For anyone.”

Although a judge at a hearing earlier this year threw out Markle’s claim that she was the victim of a malicious press campaign, “aides say that the Duchess is relieved that the true extent of what she believes she has suffered at the hands of the British press is now being revealed”, reports Vanity Fair.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.