The Duchess of Sussex sent a handwritten note to Thomas Markle begging him to stop talking to the media in the August after her May 2018 wedding.
However, the following February he gave the document to the Mail on Sunday, which published extensive extracts, triggering a privacy and copyright claim from Meghan.
The newspaper claimed she sent the letter as part of a media strategy, and wanted the details to leak, suggesting that she had help writing it from the Kensington Palace press office.
However, Jason Knauf, her former communications secretary, said he only provided general feedback, including advice to mention Markle Sr.’s health problems in the letter.
The confirmation he did not write any of the words has led to Meghan’s lawyers asking Judge Mark Warby to wrap up the case, through a process known as “summary judgment.”
Knauf was the palace staffer who accused Meghan of bullying two PAs out of the royal household in an email to a superior in October 2018.
However, a letter from his lawyers to the High Court in London reads: “Mr Knauf did not draft, and has never claimed to have drafted, any parts of the Electronic Draft or the Letter and would never have asserted copyright over any of their content.
“In our client’s view, it was the Duchess’s letter alone.”
Meghan’s lawyers said in a court filing: “It may be noted that this unequivocal statement of Mr Knauf’s position also gives the lie to the [Mail on Sunday’s] (inferential) case, in its defense to both the privacy and copyright claims, that [Meghan] considered using the Letter ‘as part of a media strategy etc’.”
Meghan’s lawyers asked the Mail on Sunday to “consent to an immediate final judgment in [Meghan’s] favor” on the final issues in the case.
However, the newspaper’s legal team refused so she has now applied for the court to give a final judgment.
Meghan’s court filing reads: “She started drafting the Electronic Draft on the Notes application of her iPhone in around the first week of August 2018, spending many hours working on it, until it was in a form with which she was happy.
“She shared a draft of that Draft with her husband and Mr Knauf for support, as this was a deeply painful process that they had lived through with her, and because Mr Knauf was responsible for keeping the senior members of the Royal household apprised of any public-facing issues—the media spectacle surrounding Mr Markle being one such issue.
“Mr Knauf provided comments on the Electronic Draft in the form of ‘general ideas’ as opposed to actual wording.”
It added: “Mr Knauf suggested that a reference to Mr Markle’s ill-health be included.
“[Meghan] accepted this advice, but Mr Knauf did not suggest any specific wording.”
If Meghan’s summary judgment application is successful the only outstanding issue in the case will be calculating how much of the newspaper’s profits she will be entitled to, her court filing states.
The Mail on Sunday’s own court filing confirms the newspaper “does not pursue its challenge to [Meghan’s] ownership of copyright,” suggesting Meghan’s application may be successful.
