Buckingham Palace has wrapped up its investigation into bullying allegations made about Meghan Markle, but revealed that they won’t be sharing details about the findings.
Instead, the Palace claims that they’re working on improving how they handle complaints and working to fix HR policies.
Following this news, E! News has reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle aren’t pleased with the investigation’s outcome. According to a source close to the couple, they told the outlet that the Duke and Duchess are “disappointed” that the results are being kept under lock and key.
The Palace launched the investigation following Meghan and Harry’s infamous interview with Oprah in 2021, which was followed by a report in The Times which claimed that Meghan “faced a bullying complaint made by one of her closest advisers during her time at Kensington Palace”.
Additionally, the report also claimed that a series of royal aides had apparently come forward to voice their concerns on how she’s being portrayed in the public eye. As per Meghan’s spokesperson, they denied the allegations made by The Times, stating that the accusations were just another “attack” on Meghan and all part of a “smear campaign”.
“Let’s just call this what it is—a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation,” the spokesperson said at the time.
“We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of The Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet. 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.
They continued, “In a detailed legal letter of rebuttal to The Times, we have addressed these defamatory claims in full, including spurious allegations regarding the use of gifts loaned to The Duchess by the Crown.
“The Duchess is 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,” the spokesperson added.
“She is determined to continue her work building compassion around the world and will keep striving to set an example for doing what is right and doing what is good.”
Not long after The Times released its report, Buckingham Palace announced its investigation by sharing a short statement on the matter.
“We are clearly very concerned about allegations in The Times following claims made by former staff of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” they said.
“Accordingly our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article. 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 learned. The Royal Household has had a Dignity at Work policy in place for a number of years and does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace.”
But as we now know, with the investigation closed, any lessons “learned” will not see the light of day.
In a media press conference, Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Michael Stevens revealed that “there is nothing on this in the report”, regarding the allegations, as per Newsweek.
“I know many of you will want to know if our report contains any information into the review of the historic allegations of bullying that we announced in March 2021,” Stevens announced.
“There is nothing on this in the report. As we said last year, this work was undertaken privately and had no Sovereign Grant [public] money spent on it.”
“I can confirm though that it was a review of the handling of the allegations aimed at enabling the royal households to consider potential improvements to HR policies and procedures,” Stevens continued.
“The review has been completed and recommendations on our policies and procedures have been taken forward, but we will not be commenting further.”
As for whether these internal improvements will have any actual effect is unknown, here’s hoping they do.
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