Meghan says she cannot be ‘silent’
THE Duchess of Sussex has accused the royal family of “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and Harry in the latest dramatic footage released from her Oprah Winfrey interview.
Meghan defended her decision to speak to the chat show queen suggesting she could not “stay silent” while “The Firm” was working against the couple.
The latest salvo in the worsening relationship between the Sussexes and the monarchy came hours after Buckingham Palace announced it is to investigate allegations of bullying made against the duchess by former royal staff.
The couple’s interview with the US television host is expected to lift the lid on their short period working for The Firm – as the royal family is sometimes known – before they stepped down last March and moved to America.
In the 30-second clip, from the interview recorded in mid-February before any recent royal developments, Winfrey asks the duchess: “How do you feel about the Palace hearing you speak your truth today?” She replies: “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us. And, if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, I...there is a lot that has been lost already.”
A palace source said: “We’re not getting involved in the drama around the interview.”
It is not clear what “falsehoods” Meghan is referring to but court documents from her recent legal action against Associated Newspapers, over articles which featured parts of her letter to her estranged father, shed light on her views about the monarchy. The legal papers claimed the duchess was left “unprotected by the Institution” of the monarchy when attacked by the media and “prohibited from defending herself”. There have been calls this week for the twohour primetime CBS special, which airs in the US on Sunday night, to be rescheduled in light of the Duke of Edinburgh’s heart treatment in hospital.
A source close to the Sussexes said the screening of the couple’s Oprah Winfrey interview was still expected to go ahead. Buckingham Palace has said it is “very concerned” by the bullying accusations made by former royal staff against Meghan, and reported in the Times newspaper, and would be launching an investigation. There has long been speculation about the atmosphere in the Sussex household, after a number of staff left, and the Times chronicles what it describes as “turmoil” within palace walls.
Jason Knauf, the Sussexes’ then communications secretary, made a bullying complaint in October 2018 in an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to protect staff.
Mr Knauf left a few months after making his allegations and is now a close aide to Harry’s brother, working as the chief executive of William and Kate’s Royal Foundation.