Duchess Meghan
Didn’t she get any protection? Trial document refutes their allegation
© Dana Press
Duchess Meghan felt abandoned by the royal family and the palace staff as she battled the British press. There have been no undertakings to save her reputation in the media and to stop the negative headlines, she says. But is that true?
Jason Knauf, former press spokesman for Duchess Meghan, 39, and Prince Harry, 36, described in a letter the efforts with which the Palace wanted to protect Meghan against the British press. The document is part of the process that the Duchess of Sussex led against Associated Newspapers Limited, which was finally decided in their favor on Wednesday (May 5, 2021). Reason for the legal battle: The editor’s newspapers had published parts of a private letter from Meghan to her father.
Duchess Meghan felt “unprotected”
During the trial, the former “Suits” actress had listed in a written statement the “enormous emotional strain and damage to her mental health” caused by the media exploitation of her person and the relationship with Prince Harry.
The palace – Meghan apparently means the press department in particular – left her “unprotected” from the start, and especially during her pregnancy. Jason Knauf, who was press spokesman during the period in question, describes a different situation in a letter.
Jason Knauf has made “extensive efforts to protect”
The document states: “As of 2016, Mr. Knauf began extensive efforts to protect the privacy and reputation of the Duchess and, on her instructions, [auch] their parents’ privacy. This included a draft press release in November 2016, issued in his own name, in which he condemned the racist and sexist reporting on Ms. Markle (as she was then called). ”
The press spokesman and his colleagues would have stood by the Duchess – and at times also her father – with advice at all times. “As many media organizations involved in Kensington Palace at the time can attest, Mr. Knauf and his colleagues have made significant efforts over many months to protect Mr. Markle […,] in addition to the steps that were regularly taken to object to the reporting on the Duchess herself, if it was felt to be unfair or untrue, “says the trial document further.
For this reason, Knauf proves its efforts
The close cooperation between Jason Knauf and Duchess Meghan is an important part of the trial against “MailOnline” and “Mail on Sunday”. The defendants had tried to avert the lawsuit by portraying the palace employee as the author of the letter (and not Meghan herself). The former press spokesman then stated that he had stood by Prince Harry’s wife in an advisory capacity, but did not write the lines of the said letter. Knauf was able to contribute to Meghan’s victory through his portrayal, but at the same time it puts her in a bad light. Your allegations of lack of help could hardly be refuted.
Sources used: twitter.com, hellomagazine.com, express.co.uk