London: More than three years after the first complaint was filed, the row over alleged bullying of staff by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has ended just as it began: in silence.
Then, it was an email sent between two close colleagues, raising quiet concerns over the treatment of palace staff. Now, it is a secret report blocked not only from the public but even to those who took the time to contribute.
Meghan attended a reception for friends and family of competitors of the Invictus Games in the Netherlands, in April this year. Credit:Getty Images
Meghan is unscathed but unvindicated, with no further details coming to light about the alleged bullying she has vehemently denied.
In October 2018, Jason Knauf – then the press secretary to Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – voiced concerns about what he had seen in the household.
“I am very concerned that the duchess [Meghan] was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year,” he wrote in an email to Simon Case, then William’s private secretary and now working in politics as the cabinet secretary.
“The treatment of X was totally unacceptable. The duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights.
“She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour towards Y.”
The London Telegraph is not naming X and Y because of the nature of the allegation and the effect it has had on them. The note also expressed concern about the treatment of Samantha Cohen, a senior member of staff then working as Harry and Meghan’s private secretary.
Critically, it added: “I questioned if the household policy on bullying and harassment applies to principals.”
The email was passed to HR, but the complaint did not progress into any known action. In the same month, it was reported that the Cambridges and Sussexes were preparing to split their households.
Harry and Meghan, shown here leaving the annual Commonwealth Service at London’s Westminster Abbey in March 2020, stepped away from full-time royal life early that year.Credit:AP
In early 2019, the news was confirmed, with rumours about the unhappy situation at Kensington Palace gaining traction along with headlines about “Duchess Difficult”.
More than two years later, as Harry and Meghan prepared to sit down with Oprah Winfrey to tell “their” truth about their time in the Royal family together, details of the bullying complaint were leaked to The Times. They were denied by the couple’s team, who said they were victims of 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,” their lawyers 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.”
Prince Harry and Meghan during their interview with Oprah Winfrey.Credit:Harpo Productions
Jenny Afia, the duchess’s lawyer, later said: “What bullying actually means is improperly using power repeatedly and deliberately to hurt someone, physically or emotionally. The Duchess of Sussex absolutely denies ever doing that.
“Knowing her as I do I can’t believe she would ever do that.”
Finally, a palace spokesman made a statement saying they were “clearly very concerned” about the accusations.
Announcing a review that would be funded privately – meaning by the Queen or Prince Charles – he added: “Members of staff involved at the time, including those who have left the household, will be invited to participate to see if lessons can be learnt.”
Only a handful of staff were approached, it is understood, with others who worked there in a similar time period left wondering whether their input was wanted. Most, if not all, are thought to have now left the household.
Harry and Meghan were initially thought to be uninvolved in the report, which focused on how allegations could have been handled differently by the palace rather than if bullying occurred.
The lawyers are said to have been in close contact with Buckingham Palace, but a spokesman did not reply to a request for comment on the matter.
At the time, the findings were intended to be published only as part of an HR section of the annual financial report, in an attempt to downplay the details and focus on “lessons learnt”.
But as months rolled on, current and former members of the household were left increasingly frustrated at the lack of action. Said to have been disappointed it had been “buried”, some felt let down by an apparent focus on managing the PR strategy over reassuring staff.
“This should have been an opportunity to do the right thing,” one source said. “Now it looks like they’re going to do nothing instead.”
That fear, it emerged this week, has come to pass – at least as far as the public and participants are concerned.
The big reveal from Buckingham Palace? The review has concluded, recommendations have been made and changes to internal policies have been implemented. Lessons have definitely been learnt, by unnamed and unknown people.
Even the couple in California should be left unsatisfied, with no vindication for the duchess and no answer to the question of what really happened. The report, which remains on file somewhere in the palace, may one day come to light at a more convenient moment, perhaps one for the historians.
Today, as that painful episode of palace life fizzles out of public consciousness with no resolution, those who contributed to the report will be left wondering: why did they bother at all?
The Telegraph, London
Most Viewed in World
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article