Meghan Markle complained to her Kiwi press secretary about the royal family "constantly berating" her husband Prince Harry about her father's actions in the media.
The text from the Duchess of Sussex to her then-communications chief Jason Knauf, a New Zealander, was released publicly on Saturday amid a court battle between Meghan and the Mail on Sunday publisher Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).
A High Court judge earlier this year found ANL to have breached the Duchess of Sussex's privacy and copyright when it published excerpts from a letter she wrote to her estranged father Thomas. The letter was written in August 2018, after her wedding to Harry and as her relationship with Thomas declined amid controversial actions of his in the press.
ANL is currently appealing that decision, arguing the Duchess always knew the letter could leak and that that it was written with public consumption in mind. A text Meghan wrote to Knauf while drafting the letter was proof of that, ANL lawyers said.
The full message was released on Saturday, with Meghan saying the reason she was writing the letter was because she saw "how much pain this is causing [Harry]".
"Even after a week with his dad and endlessly explaining the situation, his family seem to forget the context - and revert to 'can't she just go and see him and make this stop?'
"They fundamentally don't understand so at least by writing H will be able to say to his family 'she wrote him a letter and he's still doing it'.
"By taking this form of action I protect my husband from this constant berating and while unlikely perhaps it will give my father a moment to pause."
She then goes on to say that "everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked". Meghan notes she has been "meticulous in my word choice" and asks Knauf to point out anything she thinks could be a "liability".
A screenshot from Knauf's phone shows he had given her the pseudonym 'Tilly'.
Meghan is reported as being "puzzled" why only extracts of the text message were released on Friday. The full text was released following requests by media.
In a witness statement earlier this week, Meghan said it was "absurd" to suggest that because she thought her father could leak the letter, then she thought he would.
"I did not think that my father would sell or leak the letter, primarily because it would not put him in a good light," she said.
Instead, she said she only wrote the letter after discussing the idea with two senior, unnamed royal family members.
ANL argues that Meghan was behind a "nasty and untrue" article about her father in 2019 in an American magazine that presented the letter in a misleading fashion. It says publishing parts of the letter allowed Thomas a reply.
The Court of Appeal judges are expected to take their time with coming to a decision. If the ANL was to win, the case would go to trial where Meghan and Thomas may have to give evidence, something which would receive intense media coverage.
