New court documents from Meghan Markle‘s ongoing lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday reveal the Duchess of Sussex felt “unprotected” by the Royal Family.
According to the documents obtained by E! News, Meghan’s lawyers share that the Royal Family’s penchant for common practices left Meghan and her friends “feeling silenced.”
“[Meghan Markle] had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the U.K. tabloid media, specifically by the [Mail on Sunday], which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health,” the documents read. “As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution and prohibited from defending herself.”
In addition, her lawyers state that it was Prince Harry who informed the Duchess of the People news article in which her friends defended her against the claims made by the Mail on Sunday in their now infamous article. Said article revealed the contents of a personal letter she had sent to her father Thomas Markle, describing the impact of his cooperating with the tabloids.