What WAS in the letters between Meghan and Charles? Watch Palace Confidential for the latest 

One bit of negative publicity might look unfortunate, two starts to look careless.

While the Buckingham Palace press office wants to focus on the upcoming Coronation, in the past week they’ve been forced to deal with a pair of troubling stories involving the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

A statement written by Prince Harry written for a court case has claimed there was a secret deal between his brother Prince William and a newspaper group over phone hacking, and that his father’s office didn’t want to rock the boat with the press to ensure he and Camilla enjoyed a smooth ride to the Coronation.

Then there was the revelation that Meghan had written to the now King over the ‘unconscious bias’ racism row in 2021, but had not been satisfied by the response she received.

The Sussex camp have denied leaking the row, but The Mail on Sunday’s assistant editor Kate Mansey believes it is ‘strange’ that the letter row has emerged ‘so close’ to the coronation.

Daily Mail Diary Editor Richard Eden said he felt it was ‘magnanimous’ for Charles to write to Meghan after the Oprah interview 

Kate explained: ‘There’s a row going on behind the scenes as to how the letter, the existence, emerged and why someone decided to talk about it now.

‘Obviously the journalists haven’t revealed their sources and the Sussexes have denied leaking it. 

‘But the leaks have all been something Harry has been exercised about in the past.’

Meanwhile Daily Mail Diary Editor Richard Eden said: ‘My first reaction was how magnanimous of Charles to write to her. 

‘Anyone who saw the Netflix documentary might remember the moment where Harry allegedly received a text message from his brother and he was so shocked that you saw Meghan go over to comfort him and go outside.

‘That was Williams’ reaction to this appalling interview and all the dreadful allegations that Harry and Meghan made. 

‘We know the Queens’ reaction. she left things a few days and let things calm down and then talked about, “Recollections may vary”.

‘It looks like Charles did what he often does, sat down and wrote a letter composing  his thoughts.’

He continued: ‘From what we understand from this Telegraph report, it was thrown back in his face with Meghan wasn’t satisfied with his response. 

The Sussex camp have denied leaking the row, but The Mail on Sunday’s assistant editor Kate Mansey believes it is ‘strange’ that the letter row has emerged ‘so close’ to the coronation

‘In my opinion, she was lucky to get a response from him at all.’ 

Kate continued: ‘It does seem strange this has come out now, so close to the coronation. 

‘There is obviously someone who wanted that news out there or let it slip, so…but it comes down to the speculation of why Meghan isn’t going.

‘You can understand someone saying, “Maybe it’s because of the letter which she didn’t receive an adequate response.”

Meanwhile she said the story was a ‘distraction’ from the upcoming coronation, which is less than two weeks away.

She said: ‘It’s just distraction from the whole thing.’

Richard continued: ‘It’s worth looking at where this story was published. It came out in the Daily Telegraph which, in the Netflix documentary, Harry said was the only British paper which wasn’t a tabloid, he said in a very sort of rude way.

‘The fact it’s come out in The Telegraph which is quite positive, there was an interview in that paper to promote his memoir as well. 

‘That obviously does raise suspicions as to how they got it.’

Kate added: ‘He did grant that interview to their columnist Bryony Gordon recently, so there is a connection to The Telegraph.

‘Perhaps that’s why people assumed it was a leak from their camp, which I gather they have denied.’

Meghan wrote to King Charles about unconscious bias in the Royal family after her bombshell Oprah interview, it was claimed last week (the Duchess of Sussex is pictured with King Charles in March 2019 at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey)

Meghan said the comment over Archie’s skin was not made with malice. But a source told the Daily Telegraph that the Duchess will not attend the Coronation on May 6 because she received a unsatisfactory response from the King (pictured with the King and Queen Consort in Mary 2018)

On Friday, it was reported that Meghan wrote to King Charles after her bombshell Oprah interview, and she reportedly named the individual accused of speculating about her unborn son Archie’s skin colour.

It is understood that it was sent in reply to a letter from the King – the only senior member of the family to make contact with the Duchess after Meghan and Harry were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.

A source told the Daily Telegraph that the Duchess will not attend the Coronation on May 6 because she received a unsatisfactory response from the King.

But Sussex insider Omid Scobie has released a statement from Team Sussex, which said in response to the reports, that it was ‘false’ and ‘frankly ridiculous’. 

Writing from his Twitter account, Omid Scobie posted the statement from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

It read: ‘The Duchess of Sussex is going about her life in the present, not thinking about correspondence from two years ago related to conversations from four years ago.

‘Any suggestion otherwise is false and frankly ridiculous.

‘We encourage tabloid media and various other royal correspondents to stop exhausting the circus that they alone are creating.’ 

Elsewhere in the programme, Kate also said she believes that a lot of stress could have been avoided over Harry’s court documents, had the Sussex and Wales teams been in contact.

‘You would hope, as a courtesy, even if they were not on speaking terms, he might have phoned William’s office or at least let it be known that this was coming out,’ she tells the programme. 

‘But it seems that this was not the case.’

PLUS as various rows rumble over who is invited to the coronation and who isn’t, we hear why the latest rows are ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ and that there could be lots more controversies to come…