Meghan Markle’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers tabloid the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online, is ongoing, and new documents obtained by the BBC have revealed that Markle felt “unprotected by the Institution” of the monarchy and was “prohibited from defending herself” against media during her pregnancy.

The lawsuit is due to the 2018 publication of a private and personal letter the Duchess had sent to her father, Thomas Markle.

According to the BBC, in reference People‘s anonymous interviews with five of Markle’s friends last February, the documents state:

“The Claimant had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the UK tabloid media, specifically by the Defendant, which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health.

“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.”

As a source told ELLE.com, “the Mail’s defense largely hinges on the falsehood that The Duchess authorized or arranged for her friends to tell People magazine about her letter to her father. They argue that because she allowed her friends to discuss the letter, she gave up her privacy rights. In our response, we set out in absolute detail to prove how this is categorically untrue.”

The documents also claim that security costs for Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding, which was paid for by taxpayers, would have been outweighed by an estimated £1 billion in tourism revenue.

The lawsuit against Associated Papers was launched back in October last year at the end of Markle and Prince Harry’s royal tour in Africa.

Associated Papers has denied the allegations, specifically the claim that the letter was presented in an ambiguous way.

After the preliminary hearing in May, parts of the Duchess’s claim against the U.K. tabloid were struck out.

In his ruling, Justice Warby dismissed Markle’s claims that the publisher deliberately “stirred up” issues between Markle and her father, and that it had an “agenda” of publishing offensive stories about her.

Kensington Palace has yet to comment on the lawsuit’s claims.

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