I thought it was interesting last week, as the UK press dealt with the fallout from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Oprah interview, that there really wasn’t much talk about Buckingham Palace’s investigation into Meghan “bullying staffers.” That whole character assassination went out the window as soon as people saw the interview – details can be nitpicked (and they already are being nitpicked) but it was clear that certain broad strokes cannot be questioned: palace staffers treated Meghan horribly, she went to many people for help and she was turned down, she begged (in writing) for people to clap back on the negative stories, and it got so bad that she was suicidal. Oh, and she has a paper trail for everything. Just days before the Oprah interview aired, Buckingham Palace was super-eager to sign on for the smear campaign about “Meghan the Bully” and now, rather suddenly, they want to get this far away from the Palace.
Buckingham Palace’s inquiry into claims that the Duchess of Sussex bullied royal staff is to be handed to independent external investigators, raising the stakes in the standoff that has engulfed the royal family. In a surprise move that will increase tensions between Harry and Meghan and “the Firm”, royal officials have decided that a third-party law firm should conduct the investigation, rather than the in-house inquiry the Palace first announced.
Several former and current royal aides who were prevented from giving evidence in court during Meghan’s recent legal case about privacy are expected to speak to the inquiry. Last month two senior members of staff claimed they were bullied by Meghan. Another former employee said they had been personally “humiliated” and claimed two members of staff had been bullied. She denies the allegations. But a royal source claimed: “The actual worst incidences haven’t come out. There are some harrowing stories to tell.” Another Palace source said: “There’s a lot that could come out in the wash that hasn’t been told.”
In a twist that threatens to sour relations further, the Sussexes are not expected to be invited to take part in the inquiry, despite having written to the Palace about it. The review aims to “learn lessons” by taking evidence from members of staff past and present.
It is understood that the Palace is determined the inquiry should “not be played out in public” to ensure all those taking part “feel comfortable”. It is thought the inquiry will begin imminently, with no set time frame. A royal source said: “It will take as long as it will take.”
A Palace spokesman said: “Our commitment to look into the circumstances around the allegations from former staff of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is being taken forward but we will not be providing a public commentary on it.
A spokesman for the Sussexes declined to comment. But when the claims were first made, lawyers for the duchess, who denies bullying, said the reports were a “calculated smear campaign” and the media was “being used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative” about Meghan.
A source with knowledge of the allegations welcomed the move to hand the inquiry to a third party: “It’s a reassuring sign about the Palace’s attitude to it, they’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“In a surprise move that will increase tensions between Harry and Meghan and ‘the Firm’” – this actually reads like Buckingham Palace is trying to decrease tensions and – gasp – ensure that someone outside the institution gets a handle on what really went down in Kensington Palace in 2018. I’m curious about “the Sussexes are not expected to be invited to take part in the inquiry, despite having written to the Palace about it.” So… BP hired an independent investigation but the Palace is still calling the shots and limiting how the lawyers investigate? I don’t believe that either – I think this is Kensington Palace’s spin and they’re starting to realize that they’re f–ked. Guess how I know that?
The Duchess of Sussex has written to Buckingham Palace demanding to see any documents, emails or text messages relating to the bullying complaint against her, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. A senior Palace aide had accused her of ‘unacceptable behaviour’ towards two personal assistants and undermining the confidence of a third. The Palace has now launched an inquiry into the claims. But in a clear indication that the Duchess is preparing to fight back against what she has termed ‘a smear campaign’, a senior Palace source confirmed that her office had ‘written to request the evidence’.
In response, the Queen has passed the request to the Prince of Wales, whose closest aides are now conducting a search of files.
You see where this is going, right? Meghan wants to see ALL of the palace’s receipts. These people will look compromised if they refuse Meghan’s request to be part of the investigation into her own behavior and if they don’t let her defend herself. So then Meghan will come in and drop her own receipts. Oh, and by the way, Buckingham Palace DOES want this to go away. None of these royal courts want people to look into which HR investigations are leaked and which ones aren’t. No one wants anyone to ask questions about the Duke of York’s perversions and rape. No one wants to see more attention drawn to William screaming at staffers.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
This is something which I hope goes to court! the rf will learn never to play those stupid games again!
I want them exposed….as Gina said, people running the rf PR must be 178 yr old
When people are blinded by hate and are hell bent on revenge, they become deaf and blind to reason. This is not a good look for the RF. Hiring lawyers to investigate trumped up bullying charges but not a whole pedophile wanted for questioning?
Not to forget that the same paedophile was accused of physically assaulting a member of staff in 2019, a year after the alleged bullying by the Duchess. Somehow the palace forgot to investigate that one. This is a basic example of institutional racism. The first royal to be investigated is the biracial black royal, despite years of allegations against all the other white royals.
Great points, ER and Myra.
Lets not forget the FFK who’s incandescent with rage pretty much every other day, according to palace souces. It can’t be good for the work enviroment? Surely they should investigate that too? No, he’s the FFK, can’t do that.
So they’ll “investigate” alleged bullying by Meghan, but crickets about investigating the bullying OF Meghan that everyone saw, every day, for 4+ years?
No one wants to crack down on Palaces HR that was leaking sensitive medical info to the tabloid media? No one wants to crack down on the sources of the coordinated hit jobs coming from BP, CH, *and* KP?
Sounds about white.
They’ve opened up a bigger box than they expected with this I thought that they could try and undermine Meghan she would get scared and run away.
Well last week we all found out that the Palaces’ “much vaunted HR department” actually leaked Meghan’s PRIVATE, MEDICALLY EXPLICIT INFORMATION to the tabloid press.
The Palaces now know Meghan & everyone else knows. That’s grounds for a few lawsuits right there. Meghan and Harry don’t have as many resources to fight a court battle as Lillibet Cabbage of House Petty, but they have right, and receipts, on their side.
Dragging the bullies en masse by the hair into court will be very satisfying. I hope the courtiers and the tabloid journos are all sh*tting themselves.
I think the RF will soon learn that the biggest mistake they have ever made is in underestimating Duchess Meghan. She is *not* the kind of woman who sits in a corner wringing her hands. Oh my, is this going to backfire on them.
Samantha Carruthers, head of HR, is such a paragon of professional behavior, right?
Personally, I think Meghan is smart enough that her legal team is focusing a laser beam on this situation. I read one article that said Meghan’s response was not ‘a letter from Meghan to the Palace’ but an ‘official letter via her law firm’ which means the “Palace” can run but legally I don’t think their going to be allowed to hide. Meghan’s legal team’s request to be given a copy of statements, evidence, and list of those claiming bullying left the Palace with no choice BUT to hire an outside firm. The Palace may try to spin it that they chose to do this, but I’m not buying it. Meghan’s legal team is forcing the Palace to put up or shut up. Even in this, those still briefing the tabloids are trying to make Meghan sound pathetic. Like her friend said last week, Meghan would welcome a thorough investigation of these claims as one of the so called complainers was fired for ‘gross misconduct’ and if that and other issues has to be revealed so be it. I don’t think Jason (aka William’s mouthpiece) should have opened this can of worms by leaking this mud, because Meghan is going to have her legal team go there. Let the games begin.
I think this is right. They were probably going to try to sweep this under the rug but Meghan’s lawyers are asking for emails etc and so now the palace has to follow through and hire the outside firm. Jason Knauf really messed up here (i.e. William messed up) and I think probably the queen AND charles are pissed.
Ah, I see, they’ve been forced to hire outside investigators. Good! I’m a little worried about the PoW’s people searching files right now, though.
I’ve given up buying popcorn at the store and am just going to add it to my investment portfolio instead
Saw a comment on Twitter today that Jason went to university (in Wellington, NZ) with Dan Wootton? Some basic googling suggests they were there around the same time – 2000 to 2004 – and both did a bachelor of arts in political science. It’s not a big uni. We already know Jason’s a leaky leaky sieve, but seriously… ???!
Heads are going to roll. They have already decided which courtiers are going to be sacrificed. There are going to quite a few sudden retirements or decisions to explore new interests. They just want to make sure all the t’s are crossed and all the i’s are dotted. The end game is always to ensure that the Monarchy survives irrespective of who sits on the throne.
I don’t think their goal is to go to court where they know they’ll be ridiculed. They aim to cause as much psychological damage and stress on a pregnant body so that Meghan baby girl’s chord get wrapped around her neck. So the finality is not about winning but the prospect of hurting.
The only way to avoid her dropping receipts is to find the claims unfounded.
Don’t worry, this will come back clean. They do not want to make her sing.
I believe you are right – in the end, nothing will come of this obvious smear attempt BUT the way the palace has framed this is absolutely diabolical.
And she will sing.
Wonder why they’re not addressing the racist claims, besides appearing next to black people.
You would think that all the palaces would get off the Sussexes tits, after over 90 million worldwide saw their viciousness, unfeeling and racist behavior, but no they’re going back for more.
That’s what I was thinking! Jesus. They continue not to learn anything. They are so rigid and entrenched that when they are faced with a challenge to improve themselves, they can’t or won’t. Instead, they try to use deflection and distraction tactics to obliterate challenges to their shortcomings.
Because as William says they are very much not racists! But accusations of racism are not new to the royal family. Elizabeth Burgess, who worked at the prince’s Highgrove estate, accused a member of Prince Charles’s staff of it. From The Guardian (12/7/2001):
“One time we were in the dining room and we were talking about the office bible, the policy and procedures document that we were working on, and as I left [Michael Fawcett] said: ‘What the hell would you know, you’re just a fucking n****r typist.’ …
She claimed she had told Amanda Yaxley, Highgrove’s personnel officer, about the incident and had been told to make sure she had a witness. ‘But she did not think anything would be done about it because we all knew that the prince adored Michael and would not listen to anyone else so there was no point in making a complaint because nothing would be done about it.’ …
‘They wanted a white face at Highgrove and I was not that face,’ she claimed. ‘In the Prince of Wales’s household there is still very much the old school and they have not really taken to black people.’”
If the claim is unfounded, wouldn’t Meghan be able to sue for defamation?
Good grief, I want her to sue Jason to oblivion!
Me too, I want her to sue the palaces too! This is more than Jason, these people need their careers ruined and credibility to be defunded, it needs to reach Kate and Williams trifling asses too!
I dont think at this point, because nothing has really been said. That’s why we are hearing all these vague accusations and there is nothing specific.
Even the part about Jason filing a complaint – it seems like that DID happen, so reporting on that isnt a lie. Of course the issue now is the basis for that complaint.
I was wondering about law here too. Particularly related to the bit were it’s said palace staffers were “prevented from giving evidence in court” by the palace.
Um, in America that’s big no no and not possible, if you’re subpoenaed you’re subpoenaed. Preventing them from testifying is getting into obstruction of justice and witness tampering territory. Criminal behavior.
WTH kind of laws does the UK have that make this acceptable? There’s no equivalent law prohibiting obstruction and tampering the courts there?! Good god, that’s absurd.
They are that stupid I see. If they keep pushing, Meghan will take them to court for defamation and it will ALL come out. The internal workings of the monarchy and how inept and toxic they are.
Meghan and Harry have nothing to lose at this point ironically because of all the smearing by the RF and the press. The RF are too stupid to see that going to court is not in their own best interests.
Exactly lol, the fact reporters have admitted staff were breaking their NDA’s and selling and talking about Meghan’s private medical information and conversations, is enough for an employment tribunal and to be sued.
This could make for a delicious exposè and a catharsis for Meghan to be able to show the receipts she wasn’t able to an interview ✨
Thank you! I just said this on Twitter. They all admitted last week they knew about her mental health and broke all kinds of BS to be like yeah we knew, hahaha. BP messed this all the way up. This story is framed differently than on Twitter too. Here it appears they are looking to do lessons learned and not do a she bullied people thing. So who knows.
Right ? they are stupid pushing that story knowing damn well that they have zero receipts to back their claims. The good thing is that they will only prove her right at the end.
Wouldn’t it be better to investigate claims for racial discrimination among their ranks? Discrimination in the workplace is illegal in the UK.
I’m sue that as well as emotional abuse of a pregnant women could be included in a counter-suit
Yes Mac, that’s the issue who really should be investigated. Their reputation in the commonewealth is at stake. Investigating the rasism should be their top priority, and also to inplement some new guidelines ect to reasure the commonwealth countries they take the rasism allegations (which we all know is true) seriously. But the idiots thinks it’s enough that Willnot decleared them to be “very much not rasist”, and then go on to investigate the only POC in the family, which they themselves have been bullying.
Talk about shooting yourself in the face. A gentle retreat is advisable at this point. I warned about over smearing on this platform. I fear this is doomed because good or bad, no one will come out looking great.
It feels like they are making a point on following up with this because they made such a stink about it leading up the interview. So now, if they drop it, it will look too obvious they were throwing spaghetti against a wall. They are going to regret going down this rabbit hole because all it’s going to end up proving in the end, whether Meghan beats them at their own game with the real receipts or they just drop it, is that they never had anything to begin with. KP is going to be dripping with egg all over their faces. They are so sloppy!
No kidding. As with all new cycles, Megan‘s interview will fade from public consciousness fairly quickly, as will the negative attention on the royal family created by the interview. But instead they’re going to keep it in the forefront which will continue to shine a light on who they are and lead more people to question whether the monarchy should be supported or not.
KP really didn’t think anything out about that sloppy hit job out and you can tell. Like I said at the time about the earrings, they’ve opened themselves up to conversations they do NOT to have.
It’s like they don’t think anything through and are run by a “Carnival of so-called experts”
They don’t. They just react constantly with zero thought to the consequences of their reactions.
Palaces never got called out like this before. Not by people that they can’t ignore anyway.
I’m here for it. Whatever they try to claim against Meghan or Harry they must prove! The tabloids are a different beast. They can be vague. But the palaces?! No. They must be held accountable to their words.
Who is advising them? Is it the DM? Because my goodness, are they bad at this. They have one job to do, which is PR at this point, and they can’t even do that right. For all of the concern over optics, these people just cannot seen how terrible, lazy, and incompetent they look.
JT
Considering the DM publishes these nonsense articles, yes… I’d bet money they are helping shape these narratives. KP and the DM have been in bed together for some time
Yup, KP really did not think this one through. A third party investigating this isnt going to just stop with the Sussexes, especially if other employees bring complaints about other royals. This could end up very ugly for someone who is always incandescent with rage.
I think it was Simon Case, if I have the name right, that Jason wrote that memo to? Obviously, they were setting Meghan up and never expected to have to prove anything. I almost expect them to say that Harry bullied people because he got angry when no one would allow them to get help for Meghan’s mental health. Yeah, that’ll play really well.
It’s so clear they don’t have anything that’s why they are shaking and crying for a law firm and haven’t been able to provide any of the so called ‘evidence’ they were so happy to pretend they had in the Times but has since needed ‘searching for’ since Meghan and her lawyers asked for it! 😹😹
They really DIDN’T expect her to fight back, or keep receipts which is why I think they didn’t push back on the key points in the interview and took days to write a reply to figure out if it was worth it and what evidence she could have!
They keep trying to treat Meghan like they would one of their dumb other Royals and getting shocked when they get hit back, the classic mark of an abuser who is used to having ultimate power.
I hope TQ learns something from this. Perhaps in future she’ll think about how she responds to something before blindly signing whatever the courtiers or Charles & William put before her. She never should have come out with such a strong statement to begin with before finding out the basis of the allegations.
I don’t think the queen had anything to do with it. I think it’s her courtiers running the show. Maybe even sidelining Chuck (he let it be known he wasn’t happy with one of the statements). I think the queen is living in her little aging bubble. I don’t think she knows much about what’s going on. They tell her to unveil statues of herself and say a few words here and there, the rest of the time she sips her G&T and play with her corgies and horses. Reading between the lines in the interview, she’s clearly not in charge of anything anymore.
I hope Meghan uses this opportunity to expose Jason, Christian sue them ruin their careers, and then address the leaks from the Cambridge’s as well as the broken NDA about her private medical information from HR, and then counter sues for defamation and trauma for leaking false and manipulated information to the Times and being goaded whilst pregnant ✨
I’m still so astonished that they want the allegations against Meghan investigated but her allegations against the firm should be taken care of ‘privately.’
Right? They’ve got rules for themselves and different rules for Meghan and nobody is supposed to question that. They should leave her alone during her pregnancy – they’re still technically her family. What kind of family says “you’re a very much loved member” and then hires a law firm to investigate you while you’re in a rainbow pregnancy? They’re really evil.
I know little about the law but I just don’t understand how you can have a comprehensive ‘inquiry’ without including Meghan’s side of the story. How does that even work??
It’s a kangaroo court ! Sham.
KP used her rotten father. She needs to take him down too.
I would like to give them credit for bringing in a third party, but somehow I expect it will be a firm who owes a favour to the crown. How could you agree to do an investigation without directly hearing from all the principals?
Yeah, I am curious about the law firm…not sure but I think I read that it’s the same law firm that Kate used to sue about the topless photos…not for sure about that though and not sure if I should be wary bout this outside law firm? I know Meghan has receipts but I’m still mad about this investigation after so many reported incidents of other royals being rude w staff.
Meghan has left the job, so I’d imagine this review isnt going to be about what did Meghan do, it’s going to have to be on what the Palace HR actions were.
If you complained to your HR dept that that you were being bullied, but your complaint got shelved as the subject was inconvenient you’d be justifiably disappointed. The outcome of the review will probably just be a better process for complaint management going forward. Itll be extremely dry, and likely not focused on what actually happened (not the angle the press will take though). It just means that the employee protections that always should have been in place all along will be enforced/ made more robust.
Taking emotions out of this, it sounds like the palace was a shitty employer. Employees complaints should always be reviewed/ reflected upon, no matter who is being complained about.
@Mynameispearl – YES, that is my thinking as well. The investigation, as I’m understanding it, is more about how HR responded, not about what Meghan actually did. And in some ways that’s a good thing – if an allegation of bullying is brought to HR, they should investigate it, whether that person is a duchess, prince of wales, the queen, or just your average citizen. That real-time investigation should be legitimate and I believe in Meghan’s case, would have shown that the allegations were unfounded. So I think now that the allegations are publicized, the palace has to show why the allegations were never investigated. So I think the “investigation” is more about the HR side of this, not what actually happened. the papers are twisting it into “meghan being investigated” but I think this is actually just more about the processes at the palace.
@becks1 well this is it. The heat needs to be taken out of this, it’s not about punishing an individual. Its processes and procedures / escalation points.
Wasnt it in the original complaint that there wasnt anything in place if Principals were at fault (guessing that is the senior royals). Ultimately the senior royals are the bosses, even if they arent salaried staff. It’s an odd situation but I dont think this will be focused on what Meghan did or didnt do, it has to be on how did the palace HR responded to the complaint, what procedures are currently in place, and what needs to change. HR needs to protect employees and be transparent.
Could they have avoided this whole mess of there had been a fair process at the time? Meghan wasnt in a job that would have had actual punishments, but something could have been worked out, like actual training or something, they all could have shared issues/ expectations, see what could be improved. The palace were negligent letting this get to this level.
They are officially calling this a review, not an investigation, so no matter what the papers say the outcome will be new a HR complaints procedures and some updates to the employee handbook.
It’s hard because how do you punish a royal? Like let’s say that all the internal processes were followed and there was a complaint made about any of them – Charles, William, Kate, Meghan, whoever – and it was found that there was some type of misconduct – bullying, screaming, assault (wasnt that Andrew?) What does the HR department do? They told Meghan they couldnt help her bc she’s not an employee but cant you consider sovereign grant money as your salary of sorts?
In a workplace that is all about rank and hierarchy, how does HR fit in with those people? Is someone going to sit down with Andrew and tell him he better not yell at staff again or else?
My name is Pearl, and in that same vein, regarding how this isn’t about investigating Meghan’s actions so much as investigating how HR is being run over there and why they’re leaking about Meghan’s health, and ignoring her requests for help, and leaking about made up “bullying” complaints against Meghan that actually went nowhere bc they were redacted before they made it to HR, etc, I found the last sentence of the excerpt to be quite interesting: “In response, the Queen has passed the request to the Prince of Wales, whose closest aides are now conducting a search of files.” This is one of the first times that “the palace” and “the Queen” are now admitting that it’s been Charles all along running this shit show and that everything that went down regarding all of this HR/bullying/leaking/mental health stuff is on him. It’s a very subtle line thrown in at the end, but it’s basically like “and by the way, this is all Charles dealing with it now because he’s the one who screwed it up to begin with it.”
I think on the surface it is about correcting how HR handles complaints. But don’t you think the law firm, with the permission of the Palace, will release the actual specifics of the complaints to the newspapers? In an attempt to smear Meghan, the Firm vaguely reported how aides were traumatized. Now, with a formal review they can substantiate their claims with (they hope) lurid details in the press.
@amytoo there are clearly a lot of issues to be addressed in general, but this review seems to be about workplace complaints procedures. There should be separate workstreams set up to deal with any other issues necessary (such as mental health etc).
@becks1 God knows how they will deal with it, this is such a fucked up situation that one group of people should be held above others. I suppose on a low level though, if i felt that one of the VPs of my company was harassing me I would probably just leave. When harassment is so far above you it never feels like anything will be done, but this is next level due to the nature of this role/ subsiduary roles.
@mynameispearl & @becks1
I understand what youre trying to say about BP’s reason for hiring a law firm “to look at allegations of bullying by Meghan.” HOWEVER!!! they have already sullied her name by PUBLICLY making this move. Theyve given it credence while, at the same time, ignoring Meghan’s allegations against The Institution/HR.
Every reasonable person now believes that the palace BELIEVES theres a case against Meghan by the announcement of this “review.” Thats why M’s lawyers wrote a demand letter for evidence of this bullying allegation.
M has time-stamped emails so if JudasJason indeed submitted claims to HR or whoever, against M on behalf of so-called complainants WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT 2 yrs ago, then rest assured that M has documentation regarding her response to THAT little turd. Theres a reason why those so-called complainants asked that the action by JudasJason on their behalf be rescinded when this all went down. NOW, JudasJason has felt emboldened to resurrect this matter. Did that contemptible creature really believe he was doing something? LMAO
in addition, rest assured that M has EVIDENCE of the reason for firing JudasJason’s pet (Melissa) so I wouldnt be surprised if M’s lawyers bring this to light as part of their counter to the defamation against M.
PS: I dont know whether or not officials in The Firm can be sued. I wonder if duttybetty can invoke the immunity privileges of the RF?
So the Queen is handing all this off to Charles. She is determined to keep her name out of it as much as possible, I bet. I hope that Meghan is sending all her correspondence with them via a solicitor. If the Palaces wanted this to be a private matter they should have handled it ALL in private long ago. I think they are way past that stage now. TQ will make sure she comes out good though and play the “poor old grandma who didn’t know what was going on because she was shielded”.
I love that the queen is all, “I wasn’t the one who got dragged in the interview. You deal with it Charles.” Lol.
I’m glad Meghan has asked for evidence. BP/KP thought that they could just accuse her of bullying and get away with it. The accusations not only expose that Palace is racist but opens itself to bigger investigation into the bullying culture in the Royal Family.
BP/KP’s vague accusation of “bullying” was enough to get headlines and do damage. It’s always worked in the past. What they didn’t anticipate was that Meghan would no longer silently take it. She wants proof, details, receipts. Can they produce them? Do they even want to? I’m guessing not.
IMO, punting this externally means they’re trying to quietly make it go away. Anytime they’re asked about it going forward, they can just say it’s still ongoing and being led elsewhere.
This shows that their people really don’t know what they are doing as far as representing a “brand”. H&M have their own brand now that can be damaged by allegations against either of them. That means they can bring a lawsuit over possible damage to their brand. They think they can still push them around as just royal family members but that ship has sailed.
That really seems to be at the heart of everything. The BRF refuse to see Harry and Meghan as independent people. They’re still viewing them as the BRF’s spare and the spare’s wife, to be shat on in the press for any reason at any time as a distraction when they need it. They really do not get that Meghan and Harry are bigger than the RF, they can afford to stop playing by the firm’s rules, they can afford to hit back and even sue the firm if that’s what they need to do to protect their brand and earning potential. I think the BRF thinks they can just keep smearing until Harry and Meghan’s names are mud and then H and M will just come back. H and M do not want to come back ever. That is not their second, third, fourth, or fifth back up plan. If you ruin theyre reputation and earning potential they’re not just going to be like “welp, that sucks but we understand you had to do it to protect the heir so that’s okay, and we’ll just come back and live with you now.” No. They’re going to fight back hard to protect the freedom and the life that they’ve established here. This living in California thing isn’t just a game they’re playing for as long as they can make it last before the RF ends up roping them back in. They’re dead serious about the fact that they are out. But the family seems to think they’re just runaway teenagers who need to get something out of their system.
JEEEZZZZ these people can’t do one single thing right.
Didn’t Justice Warby give the palace four an opportunity to give evidence to the court? Why are they acting like the court denied them the ability to give testimony? Or maybe I’m misunderstanding the details? If they had anything substantial why didn’t they come forward when the judge said they could, or why didn’t the more precise details in the Time “expose?”
But their testimony was not supposed be about bullying it was to do with whether they have a claim to copyright of Meghan’s letter. The press is conflating the two issues and it’s further evidence that the Palace’s bullying claims are very weak and were done to smear Meghan.
I think the only thing relevant to the court case was the claim to co-author the letter and the judge said that they would have to file their own case to get in on the judgment payout for violating the copyright. If they did hold part of the copyright I would think that they would have testified that they gave their permission to publish so that was probably a lie anyway.
Ok. No wonder I’m confused. I don’t know why they are acting like this investigation will finally be their day in court or something.
I agree, AMY BEE and EQUALITY but I think whomever is driving the “Palace Four” was hoping to get broader statements entered into court documents smearing Meghan on more than just their supposed’ involvement with her letter. Statement info would then leak out via tabloids. When judge told them to legally file about their claims on letter, everyone of them backed off. I think this “bullying smear campaign” was Jason and William’s frat boy way around judge to get out smears they hoped to present if judge had allowed them to just add themselves to the official case. I think this because now they are trying to say they were not allowed to testify in court and yet court case wasn’t about how Meghan did or did not treat staff. Meghan should have said CARNIVAL OF ROYALS AND THEIR SO-CALLED ROYAL EXPERTS as William just keeps revealing his war tactics to be a joke.
Just like Meghan not letting the publishing of her private letter go; I don’t think she is going to let this go either.
I agree with you Lowcountry Lady. We know that at least two of the palace four, Jason Knauf and Samantha Cohen, who thought it was their duty to help the Associated Newspapers lawyers “shed light” on Meghan’s case, claimed Meghan is a bully. This is no coincidence.
@Lowcountry Lady She shouldn’t let go of it. H&M have a better basis to sue now that they have their own business. If lies are put out about them that could damage their brand, they can bring action.
Do you see how these two articles contradict each other in regards to the claims? This new Times article says that 2 staffers came out with claims this month while the DailyMail says that a senior aide(Jason) filed complaints on behalf of 2 staffers. I think for once DM has it right because the original Times story was about Jason’s emails from 2018 and there was no reference to either of the women filing anything. Omid also claimed after the original Times story broke that Jason didnt have permission of the 2 women when he filed the complaint and that they asked for it to be rescinded when they found out so I’m not sure what the Times is playing at but they better be careful before they catch a case.
Yep. It’s obvious Jason did this mess, didn’t have permission to do so and then a bunch of other stuff came out that makes not only him look bad but the KP staff. And that’s why some of the staff at the palaces asked can they report on other things outside of Meghan which made me laugh. They opened up a whole can of worms.
About 6 months from now, Jason will quietly resign from the Cambridge’s foundation with a nice job in the private sector and a large severance. A statement will be issued saying that “upon reflection and conversation, he feels that he can no longer be the representative of the important work the D&D of C are doing to help England blah, blah, blah…”
What I’m wondering is why Jason hasn’t already been moved out and away from anything directly BRF related. They did it with the guy who was leaking info to his boyfriend to sell to the tabloids. But Jason was just shuffled over to their foundation. Are they unable to find anyone to take him? Or does he know too much to let him be on the outside?
If there was “a lot more that could be said” it would have come out by now. There has not been one specific thing mentioned, other than crying and confidence “shattered” whatever that means. Y’all I’m beginning to think this is really Kate we are talking about, lol. Crying and no confidence sounds just like her.
Loll literally idk why they’re trying to convince us that they care for Meghan or are trying to protect her dignity or character in anyway LOL they would’ve released it 10 years ago! 🤣🤣
But there are “harrowing” incidents MsIam!! Harrowing! Why, it might come out that Meghan even sent TWO emails at 5 am!!
That was an astonishing word choice, wasn’t it?
“Beginning to think it’s Kate they’re talking about.” Lol. It makes sense. They’re always saying that she drove two people out and one of those two people claims Meghan also shattered the confidence of a third person. But there are no supposed allegations or complaints directly from the third person. There are two aids who left/got fired bc of her “bullying” and then the mysterious third person who had their confidence shattered. Could be Kate. Remember how they were saying Kate was going to be one of the people interviewed during this investigation? She was going to give evidence of Meghan’s bullying.
Oh, I’m sure they’re right when they say there are worse cases than what’s been leaked to the media. What they don’t say is WHO’s behind those cases, and we all know it’s not Meghan.
I think the palace has made a grave mistake allowing outsiders to investigate. They will dig up more bones and I am not sure the palace will be able to control the law firm. But I am not a Brit, so not sure if they have that kinda power.
Always a mistake when you want to hide your bones and you let in outsiders to “investigate”.
Wouldn’t the law firm would be covered under attorney client privilege? So the palace would control what gets out as far as the final results. This is a sham. Meghan would have to sue to get the report results and I doubt the courts will side with her against the palace. She probably should even if its just a symbolic gesture.
I doubt this, but if the BRF is funded by the tax payers, do they fall under a Freedom of Information Act? Not sure if they have that in England. Plus, wouldn’t the public want to see results. I guess I expect too much of people for accountability. Look at the POTUS we just kicked out of office. And I guess attorney client privilege does come into play, but one never can control “leaks”. I don’t understand how the process works in England.
Seraphina: FOIA doesn’t negate lawyer-client privilege. Just found this out myself, with the lawyer being the Agency’s lawyers and the client being the Agency. Sigh.
Given that this isn’t (currently) a legal matter they absolutely have control here. The lawyers can dig around and we will never see anything from it publicly. End of story.
Call me a cynic but I agree and I think the story will then be ‘External independent law firm found piles of evidence that bullying took place in Meghan enquiry but the RF are not going to embarrass anyone by publishing its conclusions”
See what I did there?
I don’t think Meghan’s legal team is going to go quietly into the night on this. Meghan prides herself (and rightly so) on her respect for how people, especially women, are treated. Her team is going to demand an official statement be released that puts this to bed and the Palace — already scrambling — is going to have to comply legally. That’s my thinking.
But it is sort of a legal matter since it’s been sent to a third-party to investigate. Seems a bit shifty that the PoW is sending his people in to search files…to shred, maybe? I don’t think that’s what they really should be doing at this point.
BeanieBean, I wondered if they’re looking for all of the paper that Meghan (and perhaps Harry) created regarding her mental health struggles, and they’re using the other issue to do that. They know there’s not any paper trail for the bullying, so what else could they be searching for?
IMO, it doesn’t matter if this is an investigation of the HR process for handling bullying claims. The BM have made everyone believe that Meghan bullied people and they haven’t changed their messaging. So, I think the palace will need to clear Meghan’s name at the end. I have a feeling that Meghan’s attorneys are going to require that.
It feels like I am watching Meghan playing 3D chess and every piece is falling into place with the palace acting in a predictably stupid manner.
I think so too. Plus I hope so. But, so far, Meghan always seems well prepared (after the unpreparedness that occurred when she joined the family, but I think she knew that was out of her league and expected there to be help, which there wasn’t). They wouldn’t have gone forward like they did, if they didn’t have the facts/proof to back it up, right?
I’m here for third party investigation. Meghan is ready to fight, and she’ll not back down. It looks like BFR are still using their old PR people. They keep digging themselves into a corner.
The palace made sure to say that the inquiry will not play out publicly and there is no set time frame. “It will take as long as it takes.”
This way they can have an accusation hanging there and the inquiry can just go on and on without any resolution and without the palace having to produce any evidence.
They said that before Meghan’s official response. I think having to appoint outsiders and now with Meghan legal team focused on this, the Palace is going to have to wrap this fairly quickly.
If the palace is saying up front there will be no public guidance on the lawsuit, which I assume means no public or official comments, then anything in the tabloids about this “investigation” would be a lie or untrustworthy. So will the palace start pushing back on the tabs now?
We’ve seen too many “independent investigations” by law firms for me to view this as anything other than a farce to legitimize the result they already want. None of us know specifically what they were hired for, whether their instructions were to get to the truth, to advocate for their client’s position, or to get to the “truth” but with a wink.
Other “independent” law firm “investigations” have shown us by who they interview and, often more importantly, who they don’t interview that you hire a law firm when you want attorneys. Attorneys jobs, fundamentally, are to advocate for their clients. So while I don’t know if the goal is to calm everything down and clear Meghan, or to add credibility to claims that she bullied staffers, I do believe they already have a particular outcome that they are seeking to find.
Agreed.
Honestly, a lot of the issue now that this has been brought up publicly is probably about limiting future legal liability for the Palace. I am by no means an expert on UK workplace law, but my from my limited HR experience I would guess they need a paper trail to show that now that this has been raised – thanks to the smear campaign – they are fulfilling whatever legal obligations exist to investigate. The legal firm will probably give them some recommendations but as has been mentioned earlier, I doubt they want a robust investigation into Palace HR practices. My guess is they are hoping to bury it, and they have to go to a third party because it’s been alleged that Palace HR was complicit in a cover up.
Remember the hashtag #poorjason? He was a scoundrel all along.
Question. I know that at least one Rota reporter stated he knew Meghan was distressed and had gone to HR because HR leaked it to him. Did any of the other Royal reporters admit they knew about Meghan’s distress?*
*All while they slandered and abused her constantly.
Valentine Low said he knew, and I think Keir Simmons from NBC said he knew (I’m not sure if he knew about the suicidal thoughts but he said he had been told that she was in a very bad place or something similar.) He’s not part of the rota but I think he has good sources (I cant remember if its him or Max Foster who told someone that there is something very big going on behind the scenes with the royals, that does not involve Harry and Meghan, but cannot be discussed of legal action.)
Wait–I’m slow out the gate here–did the Palace hire lawyers to investigate pedophile claims against Prince Andrew? With the commitment to “get to the truth?”
Seriously, did that happen?
I think this outside lawyer is to help the palace protect themselves from meghan taking legal actions for character smearing when she is no longer a working royal. They definitely f*cked up with that bunch of nonsense. Meghan’s friends made it clear, they have receipts and that PA being fired, she did something that was serious gross misconduct. I wish meg would push this all the way to court. They watched her take on the DM and win, so you know the palace is now very worried about meg and what she will do. William is a grossly racist puke and im betting there are people who would come forward to say the were racially abused by that institution. They need to shut up now, stop trying to take the sussexes down and pray like hell this all quiets down. Harry’s a man with stories to tell and lizzy wont live forever, when she goes, he’s got nothing to lose. The royal family went from being a boring, no one really cares, institution, to all out globally known pack of vile dogs.
If they’re trying to bring back the Diana days they’re doing a stellar job.
I mean, they’ve already got almost all the same Royal Reporters to reprise their roles for the remake. But like most remakes, this one was worse.
I don’t know if this is a possible outcome, but my fantasy is that Meghan, in the end, gets a huge financial settlement from BRF and then rolls it into Archewell. That would show them: Now we’re going to take YOUR money and do REAL public service with it, as non-royals!
They’re really doubling down aren’t they?!
I’ll bring the popcorn. I hope all their sordid secrets are exposed!
Yeah, hi, where is the independent investigation on if Andrew raped teenagers and was involved in human trafficking?????
@Sandra RIGHT?!!! How stoopit do they think is the public is?
Very stoopit apparently! They have a lot of contempt for anyone not of their class or color.
I had the opposite take on this. I think BP is handing this off to a friendly “independent” investigator so they can come out and say Meghan is a bully.
Supposedly they are not investigating the bullying claims. They are only investigating their internal handling of complaints. That is how they will justify not including Harry and Meghan. Because they know she has the “receipts” they don’t even want to hear her side. The tabloids and the carnival folks are the ones spinning this as a bullying investigation.
I worry about this too. I am 50/50 on whether they are trying to put a more official seal on the “bully” part or they are trying to distance and come out with a few new procedures. However, the whole thing reminds me of the very recent Waringo Investigation in Luxembourg. It was wider ranging and went all the way to the top of the royal family, plus its (mis)management and finances. But, it started with accusations of bullying and abuse (many of which are true – Grand Duchess Maria Teresa is NOT a nice person and needed to be stopped – if you follow any other royal gossip she was a negative figure in the divorce of Princess Tessy from the family), and had a prosecutor put in charge and was made very official. The BRF would certainly be aware of this whole scandal, and it makes me nervous. Are they trying to do something similar? I am sure Meghan has receipts, but they also have a lot of sycophants and racists that will line up to testify against her, true or not.
Here are some links, but the best articles of course are in Luxembourgish, French or German and not translated.
https://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/luxembourg/luxembourgs-prime-minister-no-role-planned-for-the-grand-duchess-137187/
https://delano.lu/d/detail/news/prosecutor-closes-palace-abuse-investigation/211806
https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/1684265.html
The main difference, as far as I can see, is that the Grand Ducal family seemed to mostly be on Grand Duchess Maria Teresa’s side? The findings the investigation came out with were very much not what the family wanted.
Or at least, the Grand Duke was VERY publicly on her side, I can’t quite remember what the rest said (aside from Tessy, but she’s always been very…public…with her grievances with the fam.).
Unless this is a criminal investigation, which it is not, there is no legitimate reason for them to open a formal investigation into someone they claim was not an employee & is not a contractor or vendor working with them & their actual staff. Even if she were an employee, she has not been for over a year so the only thing they should be investigating would be how the line manager(s) of allegedly aggrieved staff who complained (or on who’s behalf the complaint was made) & HR handled the situation.
In not only creating this “investigation,” but doing so publicly, they’ve made it clear that the entire purpose of this “investigation” is targeted harassment & retaliation for them.
Do it RF. Do it
Do it for the queen. Do it for England.
Pile on the lies and wait for the consequences.
DM already lost, it is time for RF to lose too, ops I mean to shine.
Dooo ittttttt…
Yes. I hope she takes them to the cleaners. They are below pond scum.
I have a different take. This is so they come up with something, the early morning/ late night texts/emails, repeated emails/ texts and so on will be interpreted as bullying/ demanding by a supposedly objective outside entity. Trouble is they will be opening up more trouble cause Andrew(pedophile allegations) other royal “bullies”( to be fair IMO not Kate but probably William and definitely Andrew) . They were shortsighted to begin this but they generally are. Sometimes Meghan is too. But the firm as whole does it much more IMO because Meghan was a regular person so has had to deal with work and personal issues like most of us, while the firm does not so they think their word is sufficient and more and more in today’s world it is not ( excepting British press).
I miss the days when we were just reading about Kate’s outfit and I did not feel so much anger against her and the Royals. I can’t wait for the day where we’ll be anxious to innocently, superficially write about how we loved what Meghan wore on this and that occasion, how Kate’s dress was Jenny Pakham and had 311 buttons dyed in the same color as her dress.
I miss it too, but (and I used to follow Kate and think she was keen!) I can’t ever see looking at a pic of her again and feeling anything but contempt.
There are some blogs that have declared themselves a no-drama zone and ONLY talk about the clothes, hair, and jewels, and are just generally light. Lots of coverage of the surprisingly large number of various royal and imperial families and their assorted engagements (also one of the best sources for BRF engagements beyond Will&Kate, the Queen, and Harry and Meghan. Prince Edward does things! And both groups of Kents! And others!).
I tend to stick to The Court Jeweller and Lilibet’s Handbag. From Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault is also one, but posts irregularly. But they’re really serious about the no-drama thing, so I still come to Celebitchy for, well, bitching and being bitchy.
ETA: Actually, on further reflection is seems that to avoid the no-drama thing they just don’t do ANY analysis of the PR stuff, or politics, nor is there any dialogue about what the BRF’s chosen actions and statements represent to the world at large.
In the U.K. this is called a SARs request (subject access request) legally, under data protection laws she’s entitled to every document- email, letter, whatever that talks about her or has her name on it. It should be very interesting…
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Buckingham Palace clarify that this is not an investigation into the claim, but an investigation of how the claim was handled?
Either way, KP shot themselves in the foot by running to the press with this story before the interview even aired. The KP clowns were in such a rush to get their tale out there that they didn’t think strategically. And now they are in a huge mess.
William is really going to evetually end up bringing the whole thing crashing down isn’t he.
Meghan could counter-sue for breach of privacy. Valentine Low says on a podcast that he heard from HR that Meghan was having anxiety attacks. So that’s a giant stick of legal dynamite, right there. Even worse – is that the media knew she was suffering and continued their attacks regardless.
Not only that members of the household were passing on information to the press. What happened to NDAs?
Btw UK law doesn’t recognise bullying in the workplace as against the law. So I don’t know why the RF are bringing in a law firm to look into something that’s not a legal matter.
(https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment)
In addition:
1. The aggrieved employees should have expressed their upset at the time – they did not.
2. A third party (Jason Knauf) made the complaint without even telling the aggrieved parties.
3. When the alleged victims found out he had done so, they asked for it to be rescinded.
4. They could have taken their complaints to an employment tribunal – they did not.
When you have to go scrambling about for the files, that tells me the system is flawed and the process is compromised. If the allegations are true, they should have been documented properly and be easy to find.
if this wasnt such as obvious hatchet job meant to discredit the interview, it could have done real harm to her image. most sensible people aren’t buying it, but if BP continues to release statements that contribute to such salacious headlines about her character, she should absolutely fight back. it’s defamation.
I see that picture of Meghan in that blue dress and all I can think of is her telling Oprah about how when Harry said he HAD to show up for that event and she didn’t have to go that Meghan told him (and I am paraphrasing here) that it wasn’t a good idea for her to be left alone or that she couldn’t be left alone. I believe this was when she had told Harry how suicidal she felt. She looks stunning in that dress but knowing what she said about that night and Harry holding her her hand so tight his knuckles were white and weeping when the lights were down…
I hope she burns the whole shitshow down till there’s nothing left.
It’s heartbreaking to think about it now.
Something that gets me about that story is how isolated Meghan really was. She didnt have an ally in the family that she could call to come sit with her while Harry was out. She wasnt able to make any new friends in London or to see the ones she had. I have two SILs and my opinions on them are very different lol but if either of my brothers called me and said, “can you come over and sit with her tonight because she’s not doing well” I would go without question. My mom took weeks off work and practically moved in with my SIL when she had really bad OCD and anxiety and my brother did not want her alone with their kids. They had just moved and didnt have any real friends but my parents and her parents were able to fill in the gaps and she got help and got better.
It breaks my heart that there was no one in the UK who could be there like that for Meghan, besides Harry.
I think all of her good girlfriends were in California or elsewhere in the states. Plus everyone was constantly leaking to the press, who could she trust? I couldn’t imagine being in that situation. Its a mess. And like you said, even if you’re not besties with your SIL knowing that she’s pregnant and alone, wouldn’t you reach out? Unless of course you are helping to add to the misery.
So— wait a second …
When Meghan desperately needed help from these people, they declined because she wasn’t an “employee” and thus not entitled to HR’s services and protections.
But now HR is heavily involved in what is obviously an employer/employee investigation.
Leave it to the royals to assume they get to have this both ways and on their own terms.
It’s like every time they open their mouths, they’ve forgotten everything they said a minute ago.
Besides, the “H” in HR stands for “human,” whiiiich . . .
Good point about is she or isn’t she ( or was) an employee.
lol this is going to backfire on the royal family . This is going to expose a lot of other dramas in that family . They need to stop ,regroup , put out sensible statements and stop these stunts.
Jason Knauf is doing the bidding of William. It was planned from day one, starting with Thomas Markle. William was determined not to make Meghan fit in, to ruin their marriage,so he could say: I told you so. William has a superiority complex when it comes to Meghan, the same applies to The White American male; Jason Knauf, who could not stand the superior intelligence of Meghan, a black biracial American woman. H&M should remain in America.
100%. Jason wants to be the only token American on the BRF team, because he’s a climber, and because he thinks he’s better because he’s white and male.
ITA Abena. They never wanted the wedding to happen. Thomas Markle was a useful idiot for them to use to try and mess things up.
I’ll tell you, this shows that Meghan probably has one of the cleanest backgrounds of anyone, anywhere. With the way William and Co. were trying to destroy the relationship, if there were anthing even remotely scandalous about Meghan herself, they would have found it and exposed it as soon as they found out she was dating Harry.
It would be so easier and cheaper to read the thread on Twitter that explained this ‘claims’, created in July 2021. My take is that one staff member in question was dismissed from her position. There other Twitter post provided an explanation, but without proof, it is an allegation. It is alleged that former staff member exaggerated her competence on her CV in terms of a wedding planner, was given a work reference as required by law, although she was fired from her former position due to her poor performance. Ultimately she was unable to do her duties as required and was let go. There were pics on Twitter that depicted the tag on the Meghan’s red dress on the Oceania tour, packaging on a handbag, and stitching on a coat.etc
The press contributed during their negativity coverage by contrasting the time Eugenie set out her Thank you cards – less than a month to Harry, where there were still outstanding Thank you cards from May 2018.
This is not about the truth, just more of the same from Kensington P. It is about providing the necessary ‘drama’ for the tabloid press while trying to regain control by being punitive but most importantly it is about obfuscation.
I have a question… now that Harry is on USA soil can the FBI quietly ask him to work with him? Like requesting to work for them to bring Andrew down? Because the Palace is doing shit making “bully” investigations. I doubt FBI is just sitting down and watching this.
Harry should stage himself entering the FBI headquarters. The RF will be shitting scared.
Going to such effort. Did they also hire a law firm to check out Pedo Andrew? No? SHOCKING.