the times | Thursday November 11 2021 5
News
The Duchess of Sussex has apologised
to the Court of Appeal for a misleading
statement after her former communi-
cations secretary revealed the extent to
which she had co-operated with the au-
thors of a book about her and the duke.
In December 2018 the couple had
“authorised specific co-operation in
writing” with Omid Scobie and Carolyn
Durand, the authors of Finding Free-
dom, Jason Knauf told the court. His
evidence appeared to be at odds with a
statement by the Sussexes’ lawyers in
September last year that the couple “did
not collaborate with the authors on the
book, nor were they interviewed for it”.
Scobie also told the court that month:
“Any suggestion the duke and duchess
collaborated on the book is false.”
Maxwell denied bail again weeks before trial
Charlie MitchellThe judge overseeing Ghislaine
Maxwell’s trial has rejected her latest
request for bail.
It is the fourth time Alison Nathan, a
US district judge in Manhattan, has
denied bail to the British socialite since
her arrest in July last year.
Maxwell’s trial on charges that she
helped her longtime associate Jeffrey
Epstein to sexually abuse underage
girls will start on November 29.
Nathan cited her previous argu-
ments that Maxwell, 59, was a “signifi-
cant risk of flight” and that not even her
proposed $28.5 million bail package
would ensure her presence in court.
Maxwell’s requests for bail have also
been rejected twice by a federal appeals
court. She has offered to renounce her
citizenship of Britain and France to
secure bail.
Bobbi Sternheim, her lawyer, arguedpre-trial hearings to determine which
experts will be allowed to testify in her
trial, the court heard from Dr Lisa Roc-
chio, an expert on the “grooming” pro-
cess, whom prosecutors hope to call.
Rocchio, who has worked with hun-
dreds of grooming victims, contends
that it amounts to a series of “tactics
and strategies” to build trust, paving the
way for abuse.
Maxwell’s lawyers plan to challenge
claims that she groomed girls for
Epstein to abuse. They hope to call Park
Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, to testify
that building the trust of the accusers
did not imply they would be abused.
Maxwell’s legal team also plans to
challenge the memories of her accus-
ers. She has pleaded not guilty to sex
trafficking and other charges. If con-
victed she faces up to 80 years in prison.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Man-
hattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting
trial on sex-trafficking charges.New honour
for Elton that
seals his place
in the Top 65
Peter ChappellSir Elton John has been awarded a rare
honour by the Prince of Wales to ac-
knowledge a musical career spanning
five decades and charitable work that
has raised millions of pounds for the
fight against Aids.
The singer-songwriter was invested
as a member of the Order of the Com-
panions of Honour by Prince Charles in
a ceremony at Windsor Castle, and will
join Sir David Attenborough, Dame
Judi Dench, Sir Paul McCartney, and
Delia Smith.
The order was established in 1917 by
George V in recognition of service of
national importance. It is made up of
the sovereign, plus no more than 65
members, who may use the letters CH
after their names. Other members in-
clude JK Rowling, George Osborne,
Lord Bragg and Margaret Atwood.
Elton, 74, who was knighted for ser-
vices to music and charity in 1998, has
sold more than 300 million records
worldwide, and gained his first UK No 1
single in 16 years last month with Cold
Heart, a collaboration with the singer
Dua Lipa.
He has dedicated much of his life to
charity through the Elton John Aids
Foundation, and has campaigned for
government action on HIV/Aids. The
foundation has raised more than
£440 million to support HIV-related
programmes in 55 countries since it
began nearly thirty years ago.
In 2019 France awarded him the
Legion d’Honneur, the country’s high-
est civilian honour, for services to
charity and music. President Macron,
who presented the award, described
him as a “melodic genius” and as one of
the first gay artists to give a voice to the
LGBT community.
Elton has been close to the royal
family since his friendship with Diana,
Princess of Wales, and maintained a re-
lationship with Prince William and
Prince Harry after her death. He and
his partner, David Furnish, attended
both brothers’ weddings, and the Duch-
ess of Sussex has been reported to be
developing a television series with
Furnish for Netflix.
In his memoir Elton shared humor-
ous memories of the Queen. “I know
the Queen’s public image isn’t exactly
one of wild frivolity, but... in private she
could be hilarious,” he wrote.SPLASH NEWSKate’s tribute The Duchess of Cambridge visited the Imperial War Museum in
London to open new galleries about the Holocaust and the Second World WarLetter written
to ‘Daddy’ in
case of leak
Valentine Low
that it was unfair to keep Maxwell
locked up because the former Holly-
wood producer Harvey Weinstein and
the comedian Bill Cosby had been
granted bail during their trials.
She called Maxwell’s living condi-
tions at a Brooklyn jail “reprehensible”,and has compared them to those of the
fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.
Nathan gave assurances in her ruling
that Maxwell would be taken from her
cell to her trial “in a way that is humane,
proper and consistent with security
protocols”.
Yesterday, at one of Maxwell’s finalGhislaine Maxwell
was said by the
judge to pose a
flight riskThe Duchess of Sussex is still
embroiled in a legal battle
Meghan sorry
for misleading
court over her
role in book
The question of the couple’s contact
with the Finding Freedom authors arose
after Meghan sued The Mail on Sunday,
which had published a letter she wrote
in 2018 to her estranged father, Thomas
Markle. The High Court ruled in Feb-
ruary this year that her privacy had
been breached but the Mail is appealing
against this decision and claims that the
letter was part of a pattern of the duch-
ess seeking to shape public opinion.
In her apology Meghan said that in a
written submission in November 2018
her lawyers said that to the best of her
“knowledge and recollection” she did
not know the extent to which her com-
munications team had provided infor-
mation to Durand and Scobie. The law-
yers added that the team did not con-
tact Meghan for clarification of matters
relating to the book, other than a re-
quest to use a photo, which was denied.
In the light of Knauf’s statement she
said: “I accept that Mr Knauf did pro-
vide some information to the authors
for the book and that he did so with my
knowledge, for a meeting that he
planned for with the authors in his
capacity as communications secretary.”
She said she had not seen her old
emails when she approved the 2018
submission, adding: “I apologise to the
court for the fact that I had not remem-
bered these exchanges at the time. I had
absolutely no wish or intention to mis-
lead the defendant or the court.”
Knauf said that the couple “author-
ised specific co-operation in writing” in
December 2018. He told Prince Harry it
was not a good idea to introduce the
authors to the couple’s friends. “Being
able to say hand on heart that we did
not facilitate access will be important.”
Harry replied: “I totally agree that we
have to be able to say we didn’t have
anything to do with it. Equally, you giv-
ing the right context and background to
them would help get some truths out
there. The truth is v much needed and
would be appreciated, especially
around the Markle/wedding stuff but at
the same time we can’t put them dir-
ectly in touch with her friends.”
In a later email Harry asked if Knauf
was going to tell the authors about
Meghan’s experiences over the previ-
ous two years. The prince wrote: “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?!”
When Knauf told Meghan that he
would meet the authors, she
replied with some “background
reminders” to help him. She
added: “I appreciate your
support — please let me know
if you need me to fill in any
other blanks.”
Her briefing included how
she had had little contact
with her half-siblings during
childhood, and an account
of her relationship with her
father. She told Knauf to tell
the authors that her half-
sister Samantha had lost cus-
tody of all three of her child-
ren by different fathers.
The case continues.Valentine Low
The Duchess of Sussex’s former com-
munications secretary has said that she
wrote a letter to her estranged father in
which she called him Daddy, hoping
that this would “pull at the heartstrings”
if it were made public, the Court of
Appeal was told yesterday.
Jason Knauf said she told him she
wrote the letter with “meticulous” care
because it might be leaked. But if it was,
she said, “the world will know the truth”.
The Mail on Sunday is appealing
against a ruling in February this year
that its publication of Meghan’s August
2018 letter to her father was unlawful
because it breached her privacy.
In a witness statement not yet accept-
ed by the court as evidence, Knauf said
the duchess had written the letter after
members of the royal family urged the
couple to visit Thomas Markle in
Mexico. Knauf said: “The duchess said
she was writing the letter in part to allow
the duke to demonstrate to his family
that some action was being taken by the
couple to stop Mr Markle from continu-
ing to engage with the media.”
She showed Knauf an electronic
draft, saying that “everything I have
drafted is with the understanding that
it could be leaked so I have been me-
ticulous in my word choice”. Knauf
said: “She also asked a specific
question regarding addressing
Mr Markle as ‘Daddy’ in the
letter, saying, ‘Given I’ve only
ever called him Daddy it
may make sense to open as
such (despite him being less
than paternal), and in the
unfortunate event that it
leaked it would pull at the
heartstrings’.”