Bullying claim rattles royals
Royal aides have hit back at the Duchess of Sussex before her television interview with Oprah Winfrey by revealing that she faced a bullying complaint made by one of her closest advisers during her time at Kensington Palace.
The sources approached The Times because they felt that only a partial version had emerged of Meghan Markle’s two years as a workingmember of the royal family, and they wished to tell their side, concerned about how such matters are handled by the palace.
The complaint claimed that she drove two personal assistants out of the household and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member.
It was made in October 2018 by Jason Knauf, the couple’s communications secretary at the time, seemingly in an effort to get Buckingham Palace to protect staff who he claimed were coming under pressure from the duchess.
Prince Harry pleaded with Knauf not to pursue it, according to a source.
A spokesman for the Sussexes said they were the victims of a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.
They said the duchess was ‘‘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’’.
Knauf sent an email to Simon Case, then Prince William’s private secretary and now the Cabinet secretary – Britain’s most senior civil servant – following conversations with Samantha Carruthers, the head of human resources.
Case then forwarded it to Carruthers, who was based at Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles.
In his email, Knauf said Carruthers ‘‘agreed with me on all counts that the situation was very serious’’. He added: ‘‘I remain concerned that nothing will be done.’’
The couple’s much-publicised interview with Winfrey is due to screen in the United States on Monday.
The sources have revealed a febrile atmosphere within Kensington Palace, where Meghan and Harry lived alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after their wedding until the split between the two households at the beginning of 2019.
Staff would on occasion be reduced to tears – one aide, anticipating a confrontation with Meghan, told a colleague: ‘‘I can’t stop shaking.’’
Two senior members of staff have claimed that they were bullied by the duchess. Another former employee told The Times they had been personally ‘‘humiliated’’ by her, and claimed that two members of staff had been bullied.
The duchess denies bullying. Her lawyers said one individual left after findings of misconduct.
It has also been revealed that earrings the duchess wore to a formal dinner in Fiji in 2018 were a wedding gift from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who is said by US intelligence agencies to have approved the murder of journalist Jamal
A British newspaper publisher plans to appeal a judge’s ruling that it invaded the privacy of the Duchess of Sussex by publishing parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father after her 2018 marriage to Prince Harry.
Meghan Markle sued Associated Newspapers for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement over five February 2019 articles published in The Mail on Sunday and on the Mailonline website. High Court judge Markwarby ruled last month that the publisher had misused the duchess’s
Khashoggi. The dinner took place three weeks after the killing.
At the time, it was reported that the earrings were borrowed.
Knauf wrote in his email: ‘‘I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAS out of the household in the past year. The treatment of [name withheld] was totally unacceptable.’’
After Prince Harry was told about the complaint, a source insists he had a meeting with Knauf in which he begged him not to pursue it. Lawyers for the duke and duchess deny that any meetprivate information and infringed her copyright.
The publisher’s lawyers argue that the duchess wrote the letter not simply as a private message to her father but ‘‘for the public record upon advice from royal family members and palace communications staff and for use as part of a media strategy’’.
The judge yesterday ordered Associated Newspapers to make an interim payment of £450,000 (NZ$860,700) toward Meghan’s legal costs, and said further ‘‘financial remedies’’ would be dealt with later.
ing took place or that the duke would have interfered with any staff matter.
Another source claimed: ‘‘Senior people in the household, Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, knew that they had a situation where members of staff, particularly young women, were being bullied to the point of tears.
‘‘The institution just protected Meghan constantly.’’
Knauf’s complaint never progressed. The following month, he handed in his notice.