Meghan Markle Apologizes for Forgetting to Mention Cooperation with Authors of Finding Freedom

Meghan Markle apologized to the court of appeal on Wednesday, December 8th, for failing to remember that she told a royal aide to brief the authors of the biography Finding Freedom.

The Duchess of Sussex, who previously insisted she and Prince Harry did not cooperate with the two writers of the book, said she had forgotten providing the aide with details of what to reveal when they sat down with the authors.

It emerged on Wednesday that Meghan had emailed Jason Knauf, her then-communications secretary, a detailed briefing note on December 10, 2018, including helpful background reminders about her estranged family and her version of events regarding a tiara incident involving the Queen.

The Duchess has previously denied she and Harry fed information to the authors of what the court heard was a relentlessly flattering biography.

However, Meghan backtracked after an intervention by Mr. Knauf, who made a statement to the court saying that the book was discussed directly with the Duchess multiple times in person and over email.

The Duke and Duchess authorized specific cooperation in writing in December 2018.

In response, Meghan stated in a written statement that, “in the light of the information and documents that Mr. Knauf has provided, I accept that Mr. Knauf did provide some information to the authors for the book and that he did so with my knowledge.”

Yesterday, Meghan told the court, “when I approved that passage, I did not have the benefit of seeing these emails, and I apologized to the court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time.

I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.”

The Court of Appeal has been given a tranche of emails and text messages between Harry and Meghan and their palace advisors spanning the months from August to December 2018.

In an August 38 email from Meghan to her communications chief, which she copied to Prince Harry, she said of Mr. Scobie, “I feel he needs to be back-briefed ASAP.”

Mr. Knauf advised that putting the authors in touch with her friends was not a good idea, telling them on December 10th.

He offered to meet the authors himself and emailed Prince Harry, saying, “Please see attached the topic areas Omid and Caroline want to discuss.

Please can you decide if you would like to share these with the Duchess?

Let me know what you think.

I will see them this week to help them with factual accuracy and context.”

Harry replied, “I think definitely share this with the Duchess and make the suggestion to her that you have here.

She will be 100% supportive, and I totally agree that we have to be able to say we didn't have anything to do with it.”

Mr. Knauf told the court, “I said, if you're happy, I will see them later this week to set out the factual background and to provide more recent context.”

That same evening, the Duchess replied, “Thank you very much for the info below.

For when you sit down with them, it may be helpful to have some background reminders, so I've included them below just in case.”

In the email, the Duchess copied the list of questions and topic areas and added the briefing points she wanted to share with the authors in her meeting with them.

In her two-page email, which was exhibited to the court, Meghan wrote, “Please let me know if you want me to fill in any other blanks.”

A copy of the email shows that she added remarks to five of the author's 19 questions.

Mr. Knauf told the court, “In a subsequent email exchange that same day, you quote me, ‘Also, are you planning on giving them a rough idea of what she's been through over the last two years?

Media onslaught, cyberbullying on a different scale, puppeteering Thomas Markle etc.

etc.

etc.

Even if they choose not to use it, they should hear what it was like from someone who was in the thick of it.

So if you aren't planning on telling them, can I?'