The findings of an investigation into claims Meghan Markle bullied staff were never released. Now a royal author says the reason was that Buckingham Palace didn’t want to “pick another fight with the Sussexes.” Ahead, more on the palace’s supposed decision to endure public “criticism” and Prince Harry’s description of a tense atmosphere.
Author says Buckingham Palace likely thought Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would’ve been ‘furious’ were the bullying report findings released
Valentine Low, who first reported palace staff alleged bullying at the hands of the Duchess of Sussex shortly before the 2021 Oprah interview, discussed the findings staying private amid the release of his book, Courtiers: Intrigue, Ambition, and the Power Players Behind the House of Windsor.
“In terms of why the decision was taken [my sources] felt that it has been swept under the carpet because Buckingham Palace did not want to pick another fight with the Sussexes,” Low told Fox News Digital. “They knew that if they released the report, I think it would have at least garnered some criticism.”
It was announced in June 2022 the company hired to look into the allegations had concluded its investigation. Recommendations on policies and procedures were said to have been “taken forward.” However, the palace wouldn’t be “commenting further.”
“I don’t know what conclusions the report filed. But I bet there was some notion there that [Meghan] had not treated staff very well,” Low said. “And they thought if they put that out there, the Sussexes would be furious and would come back with something.
“So they’d rather take a bit of criticism from the media for not being very open with us than have yet another fight with Harry with Meghan,” he concluded.
The bullying allegations ‘saddened’ Meghan Markle while a spokesperson called them a ‘calculated smear campaign’
Meghan responded to the bullying allegations via a spokesperson. “The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character. Particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma,” they said in a March 2021 statement.
“She is determined to continue her work building compassion around the world and will keep striving to set an example for doing what is right and doing what is good,” they added.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson also described it to The Times in the U.K. as “a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.”
“We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of the Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet,” the spokesperson said. “It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining the duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and the duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience of recent years.”
Low described Harry and Meghan’s response as their “typical feisty reaction,” noting they’re “quite litigious.”
Prince Harry described a tense ‘climate’ among staff in ‘Spare’
In his deeply personal memoir, Spare, which debuted on Jan. 10, Harry recalled the atmosphere among Kensington Palace office staff.
“Nerves were shattering, people were sniping. In such a climate there was no such thing as constructive criticism,” he wrote (via Newsweek). “All feedback was seen as an affront, an insult. More than once a staff member slumped across their desk and wept.”
He continued, saying his older brother, Prince William, placed the blame on Meghan.
“For all this, every bit of it, Willy blamed one person. Meg. He told me so several times, and he got cross when I told him he was out of line. He was just repeating the press narrative, spouting fake stories he’d read or been told.”
“The great irony, I told him, was that the real villains were the people he’d imported into the office, people from government, who didn’t seem impervious to this kind of strife—but addicted to it.”
