And stressed Palace staff, but no bullying’ says Scobie

the royal household could be “unpleasant” and it wasn’t the first time staff have felt “battered and bruised”.

He said: “I have my own personal experience of working alongside and getting to know many of the people the couple worked with.

“I heard stories about people being stressed and on edge and completely frazzled by the work environment because this was a time when staff often felt caught between the Sussexes and the institution of the monarchy.

“But at the same time that doesn’t feed into a bullying narrative and it’s certainly not one that was ever expressed to me – and I’ve seen different iterations of those teams around them over the years.”

Omid also questioned the timing of the bullying allegations, and Buckingham Palace’s decision to announce an internal HR review just days before Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview is screened.

Speaking on his podcast, The HeirPod, he said: “A lot goes on behind the scenes of the Palace.

“Certainly these aren’t the first stories about staff feeling emotional or battered and bruised by their experience of working for a member of the Royal Family.

“In fact, there have been times, I’m told by people who have even worked there, that it has sometimes been a very unpleasant place to be.”

Speaking about Buckingham Palace’s announcement, which he described as “unprecedented”, Omid added: “It really goes up against what we will hear Harry and Meghan talking about on Sunday because they made it very clear when they were working members of the Royal Family that they wanted to make a proper complaint about the internal leaks.

“This was something they felt they were cons tantly up against and so for the Palace now to be addressing a major problem internally, I think to them probably seems a little unbalanced.”

For every 970 men in the UK, there are 1,000 women. Yet as decision-makers, women remain shamefully under-represented.

Only one in three MPs is a woman. And even though nearly eight in 10 frontline health workers are women, only one in four makes up the Government’s Covid taskforce.

International Women’s Day tomorrow is not only a chance to reflect on that. But to do something about redressing the balance.