Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Begin 2022 on the Offensive

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have started 2022 on the offensive by launching complaints against the British government and media.

The Duke of Sussex has filed a judicial review lawsuit against the Home Office decision to deny his family police protection while in the U.K.

He used a statement about the court complaint to denounce a leak to the couple's most hated tabloid newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, which has been separately sued by the duke and duchess in the past.

Now it has emerged that Meghan asked for a clarification about a BBC podcast that accompanied the November documentary The Princes and the Press.

Host Amol Rajan had discussed Meghan's lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday over a letter she had sent her father.

The duchess won the case in December but not before she was forced to apologize after private emails and texts showed she had authorized her communications secretary Jason Knauf to brief the authors of biography Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.

Rajan said on the podcast: "Initially Meghan Markle had said she hadn't helped Scobie with the book. She apologized for misleading the court on this."

A statement by the BBC read: "The Duchess of Sussex has asked us to clarify that she apologized to the court for not remembering email exchanges with her former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, in her evidence and said that she had no intention to mislead the court."

The duchess wrote in her court witness statement: "I did not have the benefit of seeing these emails and I apologize to the Court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time.

"I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead [the Mail on Sunday] or the Court.

"In fact, had I been aware of these exchanges at the time of serving [a past court filing], I would have been more than happy to refer to them as I feel they strongly support my case."

Meghan's lawyer had previously told the High Court in September 2020: "[Meghan] and her husband did not collaborate with the authors on the book."

At the time the messages emerged, Newsweek tracked the differences between Meghan's account to the court via her lawyers and the revelations in the cache of private messages.

This is the second time the couple have complained about BBC coverage, following an argument over the naming of their baby daughter Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.

The BBC reported that Harry and Meghan had "never asked" the queen for permission to use her childhood nickname.

A letter from their law firm, Schillings, described this as "false and defamatory," but the couple have so far not filed legal action against the broadcaster.

It emerged on Sunday that Prince Harry is suing the Home Office for removing his security on U.K. visits.

The Duke of Sussex's legal representative said in a statement that private security in Britain was inadequate and it was too dangerous for his family to travel to his home country without police bodyguards to protect them.

Harry has offered to fund a U.K. police protection team, but the offer was declined.

The lawsuit throws into doubt the family's attendance at Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations in June.

A statement from the couple's legal representative said: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex personally fund a private security team for their family, yet that security cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the UK.

"In the absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home."

Harry and Meghan filed six lawsuits between late September 2019 and November 2020 against U.K. tabloid newspapers or paparazzi picture agencies.

However, 2021 appeared to bring a change of strategy with no new cases launched against media outlets.

If Harry's lawsuit goes ahead, his court battle will be against the institution formally known as Her Majesty's Government.