A source close to the Royal Family has revealed the monarchy has been left "frustrated" by Meghan Markle 's privacy lawsuit - but the Sussexes say they are the victims of a "smear campaign" against them.
It comes after the Duchess of Sussex had to apologise for "misleading" the court in her privacy case against Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Mail on Sunday, last week.
Meghan was forced to admit she had authorised an aide to brief the authors of a biography that was being penned about her and her husband Prince Harry at the time, despite previously denying any involvement.
Details of the royal couples' disputed involvement in the book came out in documents submitted to the Court of Appeal this week, as Associated Newspaper challenged a ruling that the Duchess's privacy was breached in 2018 when it published extracts of a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle.
The publisher's lawyers argue that the letter was always intended to be read by the wider public. A judgement is due to be handed down at a later date.
Meanwhile, a royal source told the Sunday Times: “There is frustration all the way to the top, because a lot of people told them that it was unwise to proceed with the case. Now she has been found out.
"They [the royal family] will think they should never have taken it to court."
Meghan was forced to apologise to the court when texts and emails exchanged between Meghan, Harry and Jason Knauf, their former communications secretary, about the letter to her father and the unauthorised biography Finding Freedom emerged in legal documents.
Meghan told the court: “I apologise to the court for the fact I had not remembered these exchanges ... I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.”
But the royal source added: “Before Harry and Meghan pulled the trigger, we wanted to walk them through what it would look like if it went all the way and face up to that.”
In one text sent to Knauf in August 2018, Meghan accused the royal family of “constantly berating” Harry by suggesting she could visit her father in Mexico, where he lives.
Lawyers for Meghan told the Sunday Times that reports of the claims were “a wholly false narrative”, while a spokesman for the couple added that the allegations were a “calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation”.
