I’ve been trying to prepare myself for this week and next week, all around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Oprah interview. I was here for the smear campaign of late 2018. I was here for the exile attempts of 2019. I was here when Kensington Palace furiously threw the Sussexes under the bus to deflect from Prince William’s alleged affair with Rose Hanbury. I was here for the Sussexit meltdown. I was here for the Finding Freedom chaos. And it’s only now that I realize the absolute depths of pathetic gaslighting and victim-blaming the House of Windsor will get up to. The Times of London has dropped an exclusive story about how Meghan is – wait for it – a bully herself. These people can’t let it go, the fact that they harassed, undermined, abused, threatened and smeared this woman and she got away. So now they’re saying that she mistreated – “bullied” – palace staffers behind the scenes.
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’s two years as a working member 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. The Times was approached by sources who stated that they wanted to give their account of the turmoil within the royal household from Meghan’s arrival as Harry’s girlfriend in 2017 to the couple’s decision to stand down as working royals last year.
Knauf sent an email to Simon Case, then the Duke of Cambridge’s private secretary and now the cabinet secretary, after conversations with Samantha Carruthers, the head of HR. Case then forwarded it to Carruthers, who was based at Clarence House. 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.”
Sources say they were concerned that nothing was done at the time to investigate the situation, and nothing done since to protect staff against the possibility of bullying by a member of the royal family. Aides also insist that behind the scenes they did more to welcome Meghan and help her to find a role than has been publicly acknowledged. They believe the public should have insight into their side of the story before watching the couple’s much-publicised interview with Winfrey, due to be televised in the United States on Sunday.
My first reaction is surprise… surprise that Kensington Palace didn’t try this before now. We know that one of Kensington Palace’s favorite narratives is “Meghan made white women cry!” And whenever anyone asks for specifics, none are given. We’re just supposed to take it on faith that Meghan is a racist and sexist trope: the angry, strident, mean black woman who makes white women cry. Listen to the vague claims with zero context:
The sources have revealed a febrile atmosphere within Kensington Palace, where Meghan and Harry lived alongside the Cambridges 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. Another aide claimed it felt “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I guess could also be called bullying”.
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 X* was totally unacceptable.” He added: “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 email, which also expressed concern about the stress being experienced by Samantha Cohen, the couple’s private secretary, concluded: “I questioned if the Household policy on bullying and harassment applies to principals.” The complaint was sent to the HR department. However, one source said: “I think the problem is, not much happened with it. It was, ‘How can we make this go away?’, rather than addressing it.”
After 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 meeting 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. All the men in grey suits who she hates have a lot to answer for, because they did absolutely nothing to protect people.”
“Seeking to undermine her confidence…” I absolutely knew that Meghan’s American perspective and American work ethic was seen as a bad thing by those lazy, shifty, asinine palace aides. I remember all those stories as they were happening. Aides were completely freaked out that Meghan wanted them to… work. That she wanted them to do their f–king jobs. That she expected them to do their assigned tasks in a timely manner. There’s a difference between “my boss is telling me that my work isn’t up to her standards” versus “my boss is bullying me.” Which is it? You know what I think. Plus, you absolutely cannot underestimate how many of these palace aides were not only lazy and stupid – many of them simply could not fathom taking orders from a Black American woman. This too reads like yet another version of “Meghan made a white woman cry!” At least it wasn’t because of a fakakta tiara or children’s tights. Here’s the Sussexes’ response, which was printed within the Times’ story:
The spokesman for the Sussexes said in a statement: “Let’s just call this what it is — 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. 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.
“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. 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.”
The thing about gifts is a separate thing and I’ll cover it in another post. And yes, this is yet another calculated smear campaign. And this one – like several of the past smear campaigns – is coming right out of Kensington Palace. Keen Kate and Willileaks just had to sign their names to this one. This is the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge terrified about what Meghan and Harry will say in the Oprah interview. And it’s shocking to me that Will, Kate and Jason Knauf would orchestrate this petty smear campaign while Philip is in the hospital!!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN and Backgrid.
I was waiting for this. Its true to form for the palaces and RF and it will definitely get worse. Diana was accused of sacking staff. She was also called unhinged and crazy but she still spoke her truth. The interview will definitely go ahead and Meghan has got her lawyers to issue a statement so BRING IT ON!!
The reek of desperation is putting me off breakfast. The BRF are so tone deaf and out of touch it’s farcical at this point. Do they really think everyone doesn’t see this for what it is?
Same. They really are twisting in the wind at this point.
And we still have four days to endure it all.
Yeah, even Chris Shit is like, “How are y’all gonna claim the Sussexes are inconsiderate of Phillip’s ancient ass being ill by doing this interview but then turn around and add fuel to the freaking toxic oil induced fire?”
Paraphrasing, of course.
If that idiot is calling shenanies, then you already know he’ll has frozen over.
I honestly don’t know how they can go any lower than this
They can go lower and they will show you how.
It is dispiriting to see how lower they still want to go…
I live in UK and care not one iota about BRF but this is a media war against this poor woman. Even if Meghan is not certainly without faults, she was not certainty doing to other people what was done to her.
Even ‘serious’ papers are actually participating to this smear campaign.
Utterly shameless.
She didn’t speak *her* subjective truth, she spoke *the* objective truth.
The issue for the Palace PR is that their incompetence as been put on full blast for all to see for some time. Of course Megan is going to get frustrated with these people. She just wants to get things done and she is going to want competent people on her team, unlike other members of the RF…
So much for the Royal never complain, never explain… Once again they are proving they can be quite vocal when they want to.
Patience. Patience everyone. What you are witnessing is the beginnings of a death spiral of BETTY’S division of the Patriarchy. Yes, the Patriarchy that believes it has dominion over air, land, sea, and animals and other humans. The Patriarchy that uses racism, sexism, and misogyny as tools to control and maintain power, is screeching out in fear. They have been exposed, and fortunately are continuing to expose themselves. Thank you Billy. For those who are into astrology -we see that Billy has Saturn (the great disciplinarian) tromping thru his 2nd house of resources and self esteem and self worth. Billy’s low self-esteem is connected to him “fumbling the bag” -the Harry and Meghan situation. “The Firm’s” diminished state is now moving with break neck speed to destruction-thanks to the Cambridges.
Abusers that are suddenly given boundaries, such as in the form of low contact/no contact, frequently react to the targets of their abuse with extinction bursts.
This is, I believe, what we’re seeing from KP, the courtiers, and the media. I suspect Charles’ shadowy hand puppets are being guided by him as well – he likes to keep his distance so he has plausible deniability. Trouble is, his silence where there should be vocal support of his younger son & DIL already betrays his allegiances.
Charles isn’t here for the Sussexes, he’s letting them twist in the wind like a selfish, hard hearted father.
The courtiers’ – let’s call it gleeful, because they *really* seem to be enjoying this sickening gambit – misogynoir teardown of a woman who was never about mediocrity and has always been about compassion and kindness, is a humanitarian crime. It’s a hate crime. William invoked lawyers crying about his “human rights” re: stories of his infidelity coming out. Projection. The real human rights abuses are going on right here, with the Palaces’ coordinated attacks on Meghan and Harry. The rot started at the head. Betty, Chaz, and Willileaks are all responsible for this.
I hope M&H continue to sue the press and start threatening to sue courtiers and members of The Firm. It may be the only way to get them to shut their wh*re mouths about H&M.
Where’sMyTiara – Exactly, this is an extinction burst. Really astute observations about human behavior here.
It was bound to happen, but I think it might backfire.
Notice that they don’t say what Meghan did to make these white folks cry.
She wanted standards higher than they were used to, and they didn’t like that. She comes out with what actually happened, it’s going to be obvious that she just wanted more than they were willing to give.
She sent emails at 5AM, didn’t pick up her phone quickly and asked to have updates on daily and weekly tasks. Oh and expects to be briefed if there’s going to be press present at events. You know, very heinous stuff.
There is a clip floating around on Twitter about Meghan’s work ethic and one of the experts said that they were only used to meeting with their principals once a month whereas with Harry and Meghan it was almost every day. Basically they say Billy and Cathy are quite lazy. (I think it is an excerpt from a recent ABC special about H and M)
@Nic919, but that’s just it, isn’t it? William and Kate don’t DO anything. It took her a million years to come up with 5 questions. How much work does that involve? Very little. How often do you need to meet about that? Once every 6 months?
Megan had real initiatives that required real work. Real work requires meetings and project management. Follow-up and deliverables. KP was not used to that at all – their approach is to phone it in. No wonder it was such a wake up call for KP staff.
Yeah I kept waiting for them to details specific interactions, specific things she said….but nothing. Makes it super obvious that this is bull
It’s textbook DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim and Offender.
Aside from the blatant racism, classism, and misogyny, did these aides never work at any other job? Like what job did you come from where you didn’t have set meetings, project updates, and expectations? Did they just expect to fill in their timesheets and pretend to work?
The Palace has lost control. All kinds of ridiculous smears are spilling out. This is going to backfire spectacularly. They are presently all running around like headless chickens…who is in control? What a mess. This is a really low point for the RF and reeks of desperation.
If they have something to say that should come out in broad daylight like the Sussexes and say what they want to say, instead of whispering gossip in the ears of certain’ journalists and rags that thrive on sensationalism. Utter madness. The Sussexes need to stay strong and weather yet another storm.
This is just so MESSY. It’s completely out of control. All we can hope for at this point is that Oprah is taking notes and calling up Meghan and saying, “Get back here. Let’s film a rebuttal to this nonsense and we will tack it on at the end.”
@L84Tea If you watch your local CBS affiliate in the US, they’ve released new interview teaser commercials today that are running that go into more depth, Oprah basically already gets into these accusations. At least it sounds like it. And Harry answers them directly and specifically.
They really went for blood here, this is finally their standing up to the palaces. They’re going to get into it. They’re going to directly out the palace staff vipers for scheming against them and the family for backstabbing them because of her race. They’re going there. It’s happening!!!
They or Harry must have been able to predict these slurs were going to happen ahead of time, so they covered it in the sit-down and they released these ads the day the royals try to accuse her of misdeeds. Precisely calculated
If I were the palace, I’d shut up. They knew what bullshit you were going to go to as a last ditch effort and already shut it all down in the interview. Harry has your playbook telegraphed you’re smears are doomed, it’s just going to make things worse for you public opinion wise.
This is going to be an epic reckoning. Diana’s boy is going for their proverbial throats!
Guys, we must demand (ok, request nicely as in “Pretty Please” ) for Kaiser & Celebitchy to do an open thread during the broadcast! Please! Pretty Please!
@HeyJude – I just saw a new one that was a clip of Meghan with Oprah, though whether specific names are mentioned in the full piece or just “the Firm” that Meghan references in this clip remains to be seen. Sounds like you saw a different one, with Harry, will have to look for it, see if he said anything more specific. I wasn’t convinced they would actually go there, but good for them!
No doubt CB will cover it tomorrow.
This is so gross. I remember the stories leaked about Diana, who was accused of exiling Harvey the dog (he actually was put in a kennel because he was incontinent), the Barbara Barnes story, and so on. Now they are pulling this on Meghan. If they “investigate” this news, there should be a republic, the royals never learn. William is probably in back of this.
Did anyone else see the blind submission on Deuxmoi (instagram gossip account)? Looks like someone who knows the PA in question and is refuting this whole story. Said the PA was highly unqualified and was fired from a job before working for the palace. Their take is this spin is not surprising as the person in question just couldn’t handle the job and was bound to be let go from the position.
They CAN go lower. Here’s my conspiracy theory: Prince Philip has already passed away (thus Charles’ tears and Philip’s “move” to another facility.) The Queen will announce his death during her Commonwealth Day speech. All is orchestrated to implicate Team Sussex in everything from tears over tights to Philip’s death in despair of the drama wrought by his grandson and his Black American wife.
I hope you’re wrong because it is so Machiavellian, but I must say, I wouldn’t be surprised. Trasha$$ family
I need to know why the Palace has not extended its bullying policy to other members of the Royal Family, but only decided to bring it out for Meghan.
Prince Philip? Princess Anne? Prince Andrew? All have allegations against them.
Yes this! Calling HR on everyone then please!
Even Sophie of Wessex has been caught on camera chewing out members of her police detail. She’s as bad as the rest of them. Thirsty as dry cardboard in a rainstorm, that one.
The amount of gaslighting in the Times article. Accusing her of bullying yet saying things like “oh she never wanted to be happy” and “she wanted to be the victim”.
Disgusting doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’ll come back when I’m a little less annoyed/angry.
Honestly, it is quite pathetic. Usually, when there are claims of harassment, intimidation and bullying, they are usually accompanied with examples and dates, places etc. But here there is none of that. We are simply expected to take them at their word as if they have been known to be truthful all this time. There is a bare minimum effort to verify the information except to say that one source said this and one source said that. And for so-called victims of bullying, they sure loved giving her names and telling us about it. They were never afraid of repercussions from a bullying boss.
EXACTLY! Clearly they’ve got access to Jason’s emails so they must have stated the incident, times, places etc etc. So why isn’t the Times publishing them? And isn’t because they don’t want to reveal “Crown communications” because again, they’ve got Jason’s emails.
This is a “They said” and “She said” mess. Reminds me of a divorce of a high profile couple in small town when no one in the small town has anything else to occupy their thoughts and topic of conversation.
I have spoken with my British friends and none of them see Harry & Meghan leaving as a big deal because they are not in direct line to the throne. If they have a problem with the Sussexes it is with Harry not Meghan. However, they know other Brits who believe that Oprah “has it out” for England. My British friends tried to explain to their friends that Oprah (and the CBS network) could not care less about England and this interview was more for the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zeeland and South Africa markets.
Oprah “has it out” for racists and abusers…
exactly! The Governor General of Canada was just recently ousted (allowed to resign with a pension *eye-roll*) for ongoing harassment and a toxic workplace environment. There was an external investigation which detailed interviews, and specific examples. Plus the fact that there was a history of negative, well-documented workplace experiences that seemed to follow Julie Payette around.
There is a saying that the RF uses The Times to accuse and The Telegraph to deny or vice versa so I wasn’t at all surprised. They have reached new levels of desperation and will throw everything and the kitchen sink as Meghan. Remember Harry said something about not taking the safer option. The Sussexes are ready to fight till the end.
The British media is complicit in this whole thing with sole goal of generating click$ for revenue$.
And now the shenanigans by Associated Newspapers in Meghans copyright trial makes sense. Isn’t this Jason Knauf who filed the ‘bullying’ complaint the same person Associated Newspapers claimed owns part of the copyright to Meghan’s letter to her father? Isn’t this is the same Jason Knauf the Cambridges removed as Director of their Communications to the Head of their Foundation once Associated Newspapers claimed in court papers that he helped Meghan write the letter to her father, so she therefore had no direct copyright claim?
I remember reading about a couple of Kensington Palace aides assigned to Meghan complaining about Meghan sending them early morning work texts and emails and expecting them to start working before 9 am–the horror! I recall ‘leaks’ to DM about Kate telling Meghan off for being ‘rude’ to the aides and servants, but they never really said in what way Meghan was rude to those people, just like now when there is evidently a written complaint, but no one is showing it (you’d think it would have been leaked by now).
If Meghan has a super power to make people cry with a word or a look you’d think people would document what she says or how she looks at them that evidently shakes them to their core, right?
This explains why Harry and Meghan left Kensington Palace, split their office from the Cambridges, and why they wanted their own hand-picked staff. Wow. The Cambridges had a plan, and the rest of the Windsors knew it. Harry must have been devastated once he knew.
It completely negates any potential credibility of the claims. That and heavy-handed writing like “The institution just protected Meghan constantly.” Like, have have they never heard of subtlety?
I know. People in my country usually don’t care much about the British royals, but I have already heard 2 people say this is an obvious plot against Meghan.
Yes, to have the gall to proclaim that a black woman WANTS to be attacked and dehumanized day in and day out…vile doesn’t even begin to describe these people. Absolute monsters.
So Meghan wanted to be the victim, yet it’s Kate’s tears they promote. Two year later they were still publicising that ‘Kate cried over tights’.
And the usual Meghan critics now say she made “Charlotte cry.” It is so disgusting.
It’s laughable on it’s face because as as soon as these dirtbag palace aides were gone everything was fine, no other problems have risen, their current staff, Tyler Perry’s staff, their Archewell people, the Netflix and Spotify people all have not had a single issue with them and Meghan in particular. And they’re deliriously happy living in the sun of California. I have not seen Harry as happy in his entire life as in his photos from CA. Larking around in their yard, even just having fun with James Corden. The man looked like a million bucks!
There’s clearly one problem here and it’s not Meghan it’s the scum who work in the Royal Family.
Kate should not get smug. Because married ins are not expendable. Even though Diana and CHarles had the little children, she was still expendable and when he wanted her out, she was out. Kate better think twice before getting smug.
I think you mean they ARE expendable
They’re trying so hard to push the disgusting “mean black duchess” narrative, they are foul. They’re OBSESSED with bringing her down and it ain’t gonna happen!
Side note, that picture with Kate in the foreground in light blue – I see she’d just done some shopping! She has two big bags
😉
Oh, you are so witty!
Yes, even Oprah is portrayed as an angry black woman.
God, they really are desperate.
Would be interesting to see Poor Jason’s bank account statements for this month.
Probably needs a new name — moderately well-off poor Jason?
I am sick to my stomach. I can’t even imagine what Meghan is going through. I have never really thought too much about celebrity stories. Fun, distraction etc. This one really hits like a sucker punch. William and Kate (and Jason) need to be called out by name.
This story last night made me feel ill as well. it’s just so obvious at this point that this is 100% coming from KP. Harry’s own brother is behind this – which we knew – but he feels so confident that he’s just going to be blatant about it at this point. The Times had actual emails from Jason Knauf. How did they get those? What the eff is wrong with this family?
I thought the emails could not be released because they were “confidential”? Is what’s good for the goose, good for the gander? I truly hope that some of what was found in discovery for the lawsuit gets released, with no names redacted.
They did not have emails. I refuse to believe this. If they can publish someone letter without their consent surely they can publish emails they were allowed to see. And even they aren’t they can still name a specific incident which caused the palace aides to complain to HR ( a complain apparently made without her consent). They couldn’t. They have no examples of bullying because it didn’t happend. Palace staff is simply lazy and upset that meghan actually made them do what they are getting paid for:work
The Today show had this story and Keir said they didn’t have access to these supposed emails. How interesting. They give no proof of these emails and no examples of this bullying.
I saw a post on Royally Obsessed Facebook group and a sister of a reporter in the UK said that the palaces and RR’s are freaking out over this interview and are trying to get ahead of it. That’s why they are pushing the bullying story line.
Even if they have the emails, they mean nothing – according to the quotes, Jason himself made assertions, and that alone doesn’t prove that those assertions happened. It’s like planting something on someone. He could’ve emailed the Pope saying that Lucifer was having tea with the Queen but that doesn’t make it true just because he asserted it in an email.
Just a pathetic, obvious, desperate smear from top to bottom.
Oh I dont think the emails prove that Meghan was a bully, to be clear – I think if the Times does have the emails (or just has quotes from them? I cant tell from this story) it proves that Jason et al are working directly with reporters to smear Meghan. We all knew that but this is just one more very clear sign that no one can ignore.
Man, there isn’t a lick of common sense among these people.
Having made Omid a wealthy man (Finding Freedom was just published in four more languages), they’ve now ensured massive viewership for Oprah’s interview. CBS must be beside themselves with delight – not to mention the potential boost KP and the BM have given the Sussex brand, that this is the audience they can attract.
I assume Oprah’s question about whether Meghan was silent, or silenced, must have hit a nerve in those with a guilty conscience – but the information that KP/RF prevented her from defending herself against media attacks isn’t new, it was already made public in the lawsuit.
If I were KP, it’s Harry I’d be worried about. He made it clear in the Corden piece he loves and respects his grandparents, and I’m sure wouldn’t go after any family directly while TQ still lives. I don’t believe Meghan would ever be the one to name names. But after TQ is gone, all bets are off. Harry has the receipts, and a temper of his own. Don’t think Harry would go after Charles; in any event, it’s more and more clear KP has been the main instigator. As Harry and Meghan begin working in earnest and their profile continues to rise, no reason to think Will’s jealousy, and thus harassment via the media, will end. After some of the PR the FFK has put out in the last year, I’m not sure Charles would be sorry to see Harry take on William and KP. What’s William going to do? Walk away from the Duchy and Prince of Wales title? I don’t think so.
It’s absolutely vile, and the fact that Meghan is pregnant after recently suffering a miscarriage makes it even more disgusting.
@WindyRiver I hadn’t given this much thought but I think you’re on to something. During Charles’ reign if William keeps harassing the Sussexes why would Harry hold back? Charles can sit back while Harry takes him on. Unless Charles wants the Sussexes to work in some royal capacity he can keep his hands clean. And people are going to compare the houses of Sussex and Cambridge from now on, the split was too ugly and they are rival courts
@one of the mary’s – or H is just being the bigger man? The more W shouts, and puts all this out there, the worse it makes him look and sets himself up to fail
I am with you. I hope she is VERY clear on how many people support and admire her, and that these attacks can roll off her back for the most part. It is all just so sad. The Royal Family is giving off very ‘trumpy’ mayhem/rage vibes lately.
Same, Miss M. I know the circumstances aren’t the same, but I’d think anyone who has ever been trapped as The Underling Scapegoat in a toxic workplace would have a visceral reaction to this whole thing. And at least in California, it is illegal to publicly talk **** about a former employee like this (especially after they’ve already been released from a contract and driven off).
Don’t worry about it dear. This interview is going to even the score. The Royal Family might never recover from it. It’s going to be Diana Panorama 2.0 but with the theme that the Royal’s dirty behavior killed Diana, drove off Harry, and their racism is what really fractured the family in two.
The blow will be immense. To put it in to today’s term the Royal’s are going to risk being cancelled by the public by the time this interview is over. Despite all the dopey British press efforts. Citizens won’t forgive what Harry and Meghan are about to expose. The deep and integral racism of the Windsors, their viciousness, and their disregard for the physical safety of family members like Diana, Harry, and Meghan who try to make them behave better by siccing disturbed press to fixate on them.
Thank you. People keep underestimating the impact that this will have. This is not 1992.
Kaiser, I hope you have a good therapist. I’ve only been watching/following since last January but boy is my mental health in need of some relief… the BRF and their media make me sick! Poor Meg!
I feel you. I was so angry last night when I saw this. I was actually surprised at how much it upset me. I feel so bad for
Meghan, but based on the response statements, it sounds like they were prepared for this.
At least KP is saying it with their chest at this point? They’re behind the smear campaign, they didn’t like Meghan, and so this is a last ditch attempt to discredit Meghan before the interview.
Look I don’t know Meghan. Maybe she IS a bully, even though all reports of her from LA and Toronto contradict that. But which is more likely – that she’s a secret bully, or that she “undermined confidence” by having the audacity to be a black woman who expected the lazy KP courtiers to work?
*Applause*. @Becks1 you nailed it.
KP really looks pathetic with this tactic but it is entirely predictable they would try this bs,
The interesting thing about “Meghan the bully” narrative is that the days leading up to the wedding, I was thinking how the media would have a hard time to turn her into a villain because she was known for being really nice, polite and down-to-earth. I was wrong. I forgot that the rules are different when you are a person of colour.
Your last sentence is so sad but so true and I think that’s what is setting off so many on twitter, even non royal followers. The rules are different and this is just KP’s way of reinforcing that.
I was so relieved this morning to find many people fighting back against this latest pathetic smear campaign. Thankfully the media (and the Palace) had done too much in far too little time that people are catching on and growing fatigued with their tactics. People are also wiser now to their motives.
@myra the reason it worked is because people wanted to believe it. The UK public is just as much to blame as the press
The DM has a massive headline stating “Buckingham Palace insists it didn’t smear Meghan.”
Myra, the pushback is real and people are calling out how racist and cruel it is. The world has changed. No ones accepting bonus mess but royalists and mugxits. I’ve even seen tweets from people who said they don’t like Meghan yet are calling out this hit job for what it is. The BRF and the BM have truly stepped in it with this.
@Cecilia — thank you very much for saying that out loud! exactly, the uk public is to blame in all of this as well; they kept telling us how no one reads those tabloids or how no one takes them seriously, yet they continue to consume the bile, the vitriol, to spew their hate online. The press is just there to provide what those people love to do; that’s it
You see the same BS with fox news and their propaganda they sell as news!
“Buckingham Palace insists it didn’t smear Meghan.” But can KP make the same claim? (We know the answer) It seems BP means different things whenever they want it to in order to confuse the truth.
The London Times and The Telegraph are NOT tabloids thou they have sunk to the lowest common denominator with the British tabloids on this one.
The fact that there are no stories from her days in LA or Toronto saying she was a bully basically confirms these Palace aides didn’t understand what working meant. They can’t provide actual examples but just vague nonsense. Jason Knauf clearly had an agenda support by William to leak for years and no him being American means nothing because white American men have often had issues dealing with women, especially women of colour, in positions of power.
And you know if there were stories like that from LA or Toronto they would have leaked by now. Remember that one tabloid tried to PAY Simon Rex to lie about his relationship with Meghan. They were desperate to find some dirt, any dirt, and came up empty handed.
I have seen firsthand accounts of her time in LA and Toronto which did not paint Meghan in a flattering light.
To claim these accounts don’t exist is inaccurate.
@hunter lies by mugxit trash doesn’t count as fact. There have been no credible stories of Meghan behaving other than as a decent human being before joining the royal family, so out of here with that Meghan hater madness.
It’s like the gaslighting of Diana. Charles relatives and friends talking of her being “damaged.” Even t hough those who worked with and were friends with Diana said she was healthy and happy. Now the gaslighting is going on with her daughter in law. Royals never learn.
@becks1, yep her being a bully is so inconsistent.
If i were entertain this, I think Meghan’s American style clashed with theirs. She’s very direct and has high standards-I remember her saying she doesn’t work with companies with typos or something like that at her Tig interview. Me thinks that she actually expected work and professionalism and they FREAKED OUT, bc the only one that calls the shots at KP has been William.
Either that or Meghan called them out on their racism and these women used their white tears to claw their way out.
I think the negative experiences were limited to a couple of members. Knauf’s email reeked of an agenda. They purposefully briefed against her as revenge.
I’m more pissed at Meghan’s ex staff who cried and hugged her when she stepped down. Defend her! Although I guess they don’t want Goliath to harm their employment.
I agree with this take. Brits are known for their incredible passive aggressiveness. Stories came out on Twitter of non-Brits dealing with white Brits who constantly pocketwatch, who ask how they could afford such cars, etc… etc…
@CC2 people, defend her indeed! They do not need to say their names just “My cousin’s friend who worked for the Sussexes…..” A Friend of mine told me that her SIL worked for the Sussexes and she said…”. Somebody has to set the record straight! Sorry l am sooo upset with all of this!
Yes, it’s quite striking that W&K aren’t even bothering to hide it anymore. KP has been incredibly bold with this attempt, and I can only guess it’s because they know they won’t be seriously called out (by British media OR Elizabeth/Charles) or they’re acting out of desperation. Perhaps a bit of both.
The UK National Bullying Hotline sent a tweet supporting Meghan. I mean they see through this bs too.
PWT should never ever open his mouth to rant about anti bullying ever again.
Good. This is clearly a smear campaign and I’m sure this organization is very aware of how actual bullies operate and how they will often accuse their victims to protect themselves.
Yet other commenters on here want to blame the British public in ways that no one could rationally apply to all Americans because of Trump.
👏
The world will have a front row view for the unveiling of the Cambridges’ filthy behavior. Sometimes the truth is ugly.
Indeed. And the irony is that this type of crap from the RF will only encourage Harry and Meghan to come out and tell the full truth eventually – no doubt with LOTS of receipts because we know Meghan keeps those.
I. Can’t. Wait.
These idiots really are provoking Haz to the point where he may finally go scorched earth on their asses. They need to stop poking that ginger haired bear cause he knows where all the bodies are buried.
I keep wondering how far KP and the media will go before Harry just loses it and tells the world the truth. Because he and Meghan are only human and can only take so much of this BS.
Meghan is currently dealing with a high risk pregnancy. If anything happens to that baby because of the stress deliberately being laid on, all bets are off.
I legit believe that Harry is waiting for TQ to pass and then all bets are off.
@Reece, I’m starting to think the same thing. Once the queen dies and the royal landscape changes I expect the gloves to come off, if necessary. William oh William have you learned nothing from observing your brother in recent months?
But why though? I am sorry, Harry needs to recognize that none of his family deserves his loyalty. The queen hasn’t done anything to stem any of this to protect him, or his family. Elizabeth as always has her head firmly buried in the sand determined to hang on to power and protect her alleged rapist of trafficked girls son. Harry needs to protect the family he’s created and quit upholding a institution that’s trying to destroy his wife, even if that institution is his family.
I wish he was strategic enough and collected evidence, the only way to win against a powerful institution like the monarchy is having dirt on them and be prepared to use it if they try to come after you . That’s the only way they can back off if they know there is irrefutable evidence of their shenanigans.
These people are awful! I hope Meghan and Harry tell Oprah everything. Shameful that these people get their money from the public, and turn around and act like this. Why is the monarchy still a thing? Asking the British peeps in here? I looked at Twitter and I’m glad people are defending Meghan and calling the palace desperate.
@Luna The monarchy is like this because no-one holds them accountable, and when someone speaks truth to power they disappear under a deluge of lawsuits and smears. Look at how they’ve tampered with our laws and lawmaking processes for their own benefit!
You cant accuse a woman of bullying who has been silent while palace aides went to the press loud and proud and told them how they gave her vile nicknames. Nope, sorry. This one is not going to stick.
Also where are those emails they talk about?
Of course you can! The bullied staff members are Kate and William.
Did she not undermine their confidence? YES she did! She shows up, all stylish and hard working. How dare she!
Did she not reduce Kate to tears? YES she did! Kate is a white woman. What is her go to move? Tears! And crying to the manager / Queen. Totally checks out.
Tho these people, what Meghan did IS bullying. Anyone who doesn’t follow their agenda must be squashed. They genuinely believe that. And I hope it is their downfall, because they can’t help themselves.
The sooner Australia becomes a republic the happier we will be! I hope Harry burns them all. For smears like this to becoming out now imagine what KP is trying to keep under wraps. What did PWT do ?
Didn’t Australia just unveiled a statue of the queen? Seems like a republic is still a ways to goes. It’s the right thing and should happen, but seems really a long time before it takes shape
Still doesn’t make the Pale and Stale interesting does it?
Poor Meghan. I know toxic workplaces where people are hell bent on sabotaging you. This is exactly it. They are getting ahead and trying to change the narrative about her— I hope people see through the smear campaign, and see it for what it is.
Based on twitter, I think they are.
The one “good” thing about this is that it proves Meghan right* about what she was facing – the toxic workplace like you say. Back in 2018, in the same month when she announced her pregnancy and went on a HUGE international tour, the likes of which Kate could never, Jason Knauf was sending emails about how “difficult” she was. They were never on her side.
*proves her right in what I am assuming she may say, we dont know yet what she actually says obviously.
It will get to a time Bosses will start recording every interaction with their employees if false allegations are going to be used as weapons to assassinate their character. Halle Berry, Gabrielle Union, chance the rapper, Meena Harris and most celebrities and blue ticks have all waged in to support Meghan. Everyone can see the BS. Twitter has been a delight today. Even some tabloid journalist who would otherwise support the palace are calling this a smear and hatchet job. I have never seen such great support. Halle Berry’s tweet had over 45k likes.
I’m sure ut hurt their fragile white feefees when Meghan told them she expected them to actually work and not do their usual bare minimum. A poor performance review isn’t bullying, it’s a sign that it’s time for you to find a new job.
Meg also wouldn’t allow them to control her, and that’s part of why they didn’t like her. These stories reek of “how dare she!” She likely knew they were attempting to lead her in the wrong direction. Besides Meg likes working and they just couldn’t fathom it.
Of course as always there’s the racism dripping from all these accusations of her supposedly being “difficult,” yeah I’m sure that wasn’t an obvious attempt at the angry black woman trope.
It’s clear that these people are totally ignorant of how they’re making themselves look to the rest of the world where people know what they’re seeing. It’s like, We. See. You. 👀
Considering how the Five Big Questions is considered a big project by their standards, I’m not surprised that Meghan’s work ethic had them traumatised. Please don’t think that all British people are this lazy!
Heck, if Kate’s work ethic is demonstrative of the British work ethic, you all would be living in caves. You may have discovered fire say, last week?
I do think this was it. The shock of doing a meaningful project through proper project management – proposal, pitching it, work plan, outreach, relationship management, tracking for ogress, etc – deeply offended palace sensibilities. And Meghan’s shock at the incompetence probably couldn’t be hidden, and Meghan’s commitment to doing it anyway was the nail in her proverbial coffin. I read that for Smart Set she actually had to make her own calls to partners. At the time it seems like she was being hands on, now it seems like she was doing it cos no one else could or would. She’s my hero today more than ever.
The toxicity she had to deal with is becoming clearer and clearer. She really is one tough cookie.
They’re transparent. “Hitting back” before Meghan has uttered a single word. The panic about what she could say is extraordinary.
The most tangible thing they’ve been able to say so far is that 2018 article saying Meghan gets up early and emails her staff six times a day. Which makes me want to see what they’d say about any regular office job.
God, I wish I could email only six times a day. I have at least 25k emails in my inbox.
I hear you. If my team heard that little from me I think they’d start ringing round the local hospitals.
Seriously. Every morning I log in, I have at least a dozen emails waiting for me.
I think this is why Meghan was silent in the promos for the interview. They knew that no matter why she did, she’d be attacked after they were released.
They were right, and now the media is telling on itself: even when she’s silent, they are bullying and abusing her. It’s not because of anything she did. It’s because of her gender and skin color, and we all know it.
No shit! I’m an attorney and I check my email first thing every morning and like clockwork, I’ve received at least half a dozen emails that came from 11:00 pm THE FREAKING THE NIGHT BEFORE up until 5:30 am that morning. And for fucks sake, it’s not like my boss actually expected me to reply at 2:30 in the morning. Lazy ass aides at the palace must be used to streaming episodes of Downton Abbey all day, twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the lazy Cambridges to, I don’t know, actually DO something?
The royals do so little, clocking in only HOURS a year. Because that’s all those “engagements” are. A 30 or 60 minute visit to a nursing home, or a ribbon cutting event at a new hospital, or unveiling a plaque honoring a soldier, etc. 100 engagements is nothing but 100 hours of “work”. Even with the behind the scenes logistics planning, there is no way anyone in that organization is putting in an actual full work week. Not even close.
That’s what I was thinking. Just because she was up and working at 5 AM didn’t mean she expected them to REPLY at 5 AM. Some people like to get an early start. I have a friend who gets up at 5 every morning and goes to bed before 9. She used to run a small company, and when she did, she hit the ground running before most people were awake, but she didn’t expect everyone else to be on her schedule.
In addition to incandescent rage fits, William has also been diagnosed with Premature Excoriation. To be effective, he should have timed this for the Sunday morning papers but it was only Tuesday afternoon in California when this hit the fan. Plenty of time to add this latest smear to the already steaming pile of poo Oprah is going to put the spotlight on Sunday night. Cue the CBS news trucks warming up their engines and heading back to Montecito this afternoon so Harry can set the world straight about his brother once and for all.
Yeah, they seem to think that a broadcast can’t be edited before it’s aired. Hah. We’ll see. Easy to tweak the intro, if nothing else.
Yeah, I absolutely believe they couldn’t handle having WOC as a boss and she wanted them to work???? That’s just too much. American work culture vs British is different. “Undermine her confidence” I willing to bet Meghan was direct and assertive with her expectations which they couldn’t handle.
They are all a den of snakes!! I am beyond angry, as I can see no end to their hatred for Meghan and Harry. There is much talk on Twitter about this and what drives me crazy is that when there was an actual report on the Home Secretary about bullying, nothing happened at all! From the same people! Swept under the carpet, resulted in several people quitting (if I remember correctly) and nothing else! But now, no! Pearl clutching at its best! They simply want to destroy them, their lives and everything they hold dear!
Please excuse my rant, I am obviously annoyed!
This has been on the hourly news bulletin on the radio station I listen to while I work all morning.
My first thought (after the inevitable ‘I see you KP’) was that they had better have the receipts given H&M’s willingness to use legal avenues to counter other smear campaigns.
Second through, they may well have those receipts and while workplace bullying is a horrific thing which needs to be exposed, given everything we know about the people involved I can’t get past the belief that there was absolutely a concerted effort to push her out that included staffers agreeing to make official complaints about her.
Thirdly, wow, I hadn’t quite understood/accepted how much The Times is in bed with the BRF. I mean I know it’s a thing but I’ve spent most of my life believing The Times to be legit journalism even if they were on the right. This is unsettling.
So looking at it from the eyes of the employees, Jason Knauf, Simon Case – if there was anything concrete they could point to, it would be included in that email and it would have been included in the Times article. I know people can be bullies through creating a toxic environment and we all know Miranda Priestly didnt yell in Devil Wears Prada but was still a bully.
but here the allegations are so vague and it really seems like the complaints were “the black american wanted to know what I hadnt done what she had asked me to do.” And I imagine every time Meghan annoyed one of them they went straight to Jason about it.
If its incorrect, the Sussexes will sue The Times. They have sued over much less, d so far they have won most of them. I’m sure The Times were aware of that when they published this story.
Well they apparently sent a very detailed legal letter to the Times rebutting the claims, so a lawsuit may be next.
But with this case I’m not sure there could be a lot to sue about, if Jason did actually send that email and there was actual talk about Meghan like this – that she was harassing and bullying them. So it may not be that the fact that the allegations were made is incorrect, but the actual allegations are incorrect, and I think the Times is being very careful in some of its wording here.
The bigger issue is why these people felt harassed and bullied by the black duchess – it just reeks of “I didnt like her tone” or “she was uppity.”
They tried the bullying thing in 2018 so I’m surprised details of this HR complaint didn’t come out at the height of that Winter 18 smear campaign. The infamous Melissa was apparently let go for misconduct (at least Meghans court papers stated she didn’t ‘ leave’ so don’t think departure was voluntary) and the other employee press like the Times claimed was leaving because of Meghan ended up extending a 6 month stint to 18 months.
Royal reporters literally said in 2019 the staff looked down on Meghan for being an American and a TV actress. There was a book last year that said the old guard looked down on her& thought who do you think you are when she made demands. So I don’t doubt that if she didn’t smile& show total deference that would have been seen as aggressive no matter how polite the request. Seen it too many times. So far they’ve said Meghan didn’t answer the phone & that had a staffer shaking. I mean this is desperate stuff. On ITV they also said the bullying complaint was made by Knauf on behalf of staff & once they found out it was rescinded.
Royal reporters also reported staff leaks that staff called her me-gain& said marriage would only last 5 years. Clearly the Sussexes left KP for a reason. So who were the real bullies?
This is last ditch desperate stuff and it will be hilarious if the Firm has revealed it was briefing against her but they are barely mentioned in the interview. I find it interesting the press have blatantly put Jason Knauf& Simon Case’s names out there& that this email complaint was apparently in October 2018-were they gearing up for the smear campaign post the pregnancy announcement & during the Oceana tour?
Interesting also that Jason Knauf’s mother was interviewed before the wedding and said Jason had great things to say about Meghan so wonder what changed.
So far Meghan has mostly sued over invasion of privacy. I haven’t seen anything on defamation of character, despite the number of times their character have been defamed. The only other time was Harry but it involved potential damage to a mental health work he was collaborating on with the Ministry of Defence.
The Times is already “clarifying” specific points in updated stories today. For example, in an updated story about the earrings is this line: “There is no suggestion that the crown prince gave them to the duchess in person, or indeed has even met her.”
Becks1, totally agree!
Take note, this is coming out of KP. W&K are shaking in their boots and giving the go-ahead to “hit back” when absolutely no one was speaking about them.
Thank you, Meghan and Harry, for always providing receipts and not being afraid to take people to court. Honestly, while Philip is in the hospital, I don’t see why the Cambridges would add to his stress like this.
Yes, the bullies are outing themselves. It’s textbook. And so foolish of them.
Didn’t they already try this with the whole “she sends us emails and we have to respond!” nonsense of years ago? They really don’t understand optics do they?
They already tried the jewelry thing, too. It’s Tiaragate
I don’t know bullies tend to stick around because they always believe they did nothing wrong and those who are bullied are usually the ones to leave. Meghan and Harry left KP, the Royal Foundation and the UK. I know who were the actual bullies here. This is nothing but the white aides didn’t like taking orders from a black woman.
KP couldn’t just wait for the interview to come out to respond. It tells me that Meghan suffered a great deal while in the UK. I hope Harry and Meghan really told all. If not Oprah has to get on the phone and start arranging a follow up
“KP couldn’t just wait for the interview to come out to respond.”
Exactly.
She hasn’t even said ANYTHING yet and they’re panicking like crazy! 😵
And what happened to:
‘We’re only concerned about poor Prince Philip and ignoring Oprah’??🙄
Excellent excellent point about the bullies sticking around. Its so true.
Could this BE any more obvious? Have the British press really sat on this raging headline for 2+ years, only to trot it out when Oprah is coming up in their rearview mirror?
I’m not sure what we’re supposed to make of this, but the timing couldn’t be more sublime. Shout louder, British tabs, we still can’t hear you, LOL.
This is a recycled, refried version of what they tried before. It didn’t stick then and it won’t stick now.
I have no doubt that these lazy fuckers who were probably used to barely doing any work because their bosses the Cambridges barely came into the office, were suddenly expected to do work.
I can believe that Meghan came in almost daily, had tons of ideas, was ready to work and expected her staff to support her. And they were probably incapable of doing so so they quit.
I can also believe that Will and Kate probably told the staff that they didn’t have to listen to her and they tried to block her every move. That more senior staff were like “Oh, Meghan, that’s just not how we do things around here” in regards to her strong worth ethic. Which was essentially them just trying to slow walk her because they knew she would overshadow the lazy Cambridges.
THIS is why they left KP and hired their own staff who were competent and willing to work with Meghan and Harry.
Yes to all of this.
Agree 1000% All the bullying claims, leaks and “high turnover” (and any actual turnover) stories went up smoke once they got their own team 🙃
The doofus source in The Times article just comes out and admits that Meghan’s staff didn’t do their jobs: “People needed to be treated well and with some understanding, even when they were not performing to their standards, they were told. Meghan is said to have replied: “It’s not my job to coddle people.”
Would anyone expect Prince Charles to coddle people when he wants work done? So why must Meghan?
@Nic19 – Interesting you should say that. In one of the Dumfries docs a few years back, there was a segment on renovating a building on the property as a guest house for use by people attending events. The decorator in charge was – Camilla’s sister. She appears a capable, confident woman, but in the piece was, not exactly anxious, but focused and working hard in preparation for an inspection visit by Charles. Made a couple of comments about things she knew he didn’t like, and how detail oriented he was, and noticed everything. This was his wife’s sister, who was anticipating being held professionally accountable for her work.
And I’d bet Meghan was a lot more pleasant to work with than Charles.
Charles is super finicky. Chefs needed to boil many eggs so he could try them all and pick the one that is just right. He was annoyed with the kitchen help when they did not include a special appetizer for his grandmother at an afternoon tea. Stephen Barry wrote that Charles had to have his bath towel “just so” when he stepped out of the bath tub.
Great summary, totally makes sense. In addition, if there was a tense atmosphere, especially for lower level employees, it could also have been because they were put in a position where they had to choose sides; if they did their jobs and helped Meghan, it was poorly received by senior staffers affiliated with the Cambridges. So maybe there were tears, but not for the reason KP would have you believe…
I really hope that if Harry and Meghan had gone easy on KP and Cain and Unable for the Oprah interview, that last night they made a phone call that started with the phrase “Okay, here’s what we DIDN’T say…” and they spill it all.
😉😉😃😃
I can’t even with these Palace people and their lack of actual professional experience, but then again, KP doesn’t seem like an actual professional organization, but a totally unprofessional, social suck-up atmosphere for William and Kate.
Meghan, her dynamism, and her actual work ethic never stood a chance against these lazy sycophant wannabes.
I hope the Oprah interview airs out their names, and that Prince Charles fires them all afterwards.
Prince Charles did not, is not, and will not ever defend anyone in the press or out except himself and his wife. He is not a courageous man or even a brave one. Harry knows he’s on his own when it comes to having parents.
If Charles wanted to support Harry and Meghan he would have done so ages ago. His walking down the aisle with Meghan gave HIM favorable publicity. He will still let William run amok.
This feels like victim blaming.
Ah yes the old abuser tactic. “I’m not the abuser, you are!”
They must have called her the N word regularly and nobody stopped it.
I wouldn’t doubt it. Years ago one of the employees at Buckingham palace (I think, it was one of the palaces in any event) sued and won because of a toxic work environment in which a senior courtier called her “that n-word typist” so I completely believe this was a completely hostile workspace for Meghan in which none of the employees wanted to listen to her because they thought they’re better than her, the Black American. Just evil.
It was Clarence House. It wasn’t the first time they faced accusations of racism either. Between those accusations and the nasty tweets of his former private secretary, there’s no prospect of better management under his reign. Things will continue to worsen until they completely sink into the abyss with William.
I saw Emily Andrew’s comment on twitter last night and I would just like to say that her faux concern about the feelings of these young women does not carry any weight. Emily has been an active participant in maligning Meghan and has never cared about Meghan’s feelings during her pregnancy and postpartum. Never once cared how these negative publications could be damaging Meghan’s mental health. She has written false stores about her, which she has had to retract afterwards. She has also told us previously that the same qualities she admires in Meghan rubbed courtiers the wrong way. So sorry, Emily, not buying your concern for these women. You’re salivating at the gossip.
Yes, and also, so their feelings matter and are of concern, but Meghan’s aren’t? Be careful Emily, your hood is showing.
Emily will stay forever mad about being humiliated by the baby shower story. She’s an insincere snake.
Black women in the workplace often experience accusations of being bullies. Sometimes just by not smiling enough and tbh white women cry very easily (on purpose) especially when called out for being racist or for not talking to and treating us with respect.
Anything a Black woman does where she doesn’t show enough deference, humility and forced friendship with white women is seen as bullying.
I don’t doubt that some white girls cried but I doubt it was because Meghan was a bully. More likely that they are racists and are uncomfortable receiving orders from a black woman, especially one who won’t let them treat her like shit or has her own standards and ways of living.
This was stupid of Knauf with this email releasing it days before the Oprah interview. Announce to the world KP has the most to fear from this sit down. Wait until the interview airs before countering what is said.
Agree. And this is just a dry, written article. Even if the Oprah interview screened tomorrow, never mind at the weekend, the power of Meghan on screen, in the flesh, telling her story directly would blow away ‘there was an email from Jason something something, people were unhappy, earrings/journalist/MBS/ Simon Case, Meghan wanted to be unhappy so we did what she wanted, The End’.
Jason Knauf has never worked as Meghan’s aide. According to his Linkdin profile he has worked for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for over 7 years with part of that time, about 2 years at most, including the Sussexes. He never worked exclusively for Meghan. William has had five Private Secretaries in seven years. Knauf however has remained under various job titles and it seems he is indispensible to William. This smear campaign is coming from William.
Well well! If that’s true . At least Meghan’s family are honourable dirt bags , they stab her from the front and there is no pretence unlike his family who stab him in the back while pretending to like him .
I think I’m feeling….incandescent at this point. Seriously these people are horrible. Really hope Meg and Harry are hanging with Archie in some beautiful weather today and taking some deep meditative breaths.
I think Harry knows his brother is behind this. This is unfortunate but it is also predictable.
This is all very conveniently timed. Releasing this libel before the Sussex interview airing, but after the interview taping. Disgusting.
How is anyone supposed to take these newspapers or Kensington Palace seriously ever again?
Jason Knauf has gone out of his way to undermine Meghan at every turn. He behaves like a guilty man.
Did Meghan witness William with Rose? I want to know exactly what William is afraid of here that he sent out Jason Knauf to do this when we have no idea what Harry and Meghan are going to say in that interview.
Whatever they did to her is BAD. I’m know other houses were bad but KP is the only house SCRAMBLING right now. They’re terrified and this poor, sloppily thrown together smear attempt shows it. I’m still in shock about earring gate. Why they would want to open the blood jewelry can of worms is just beyond me.
What’s the point of all this? The potential downside of these stories is so much worse than the potential upside of seeming gracious and supportive of Meghan and Harry.
They live in an aristocratic bubble. They don’t even realize how awful this looks. They think this is the kill shot but don’t realize the guns actually pointed at their own heads.
I think that it’s because they know they are going to be accused of racism and that terrifies them – even though it’s clearly true. They are fighting back with claws out.
Meghan was supposed to grovel at their feet. She was supposed to be so intimidated by the royal whatever that she cowered in fear. Kate was supposed to lead and guide her into doing things the proper way. After all, this was Kate’s chance to be a leader, and an American showgirl with no aristocratic bearing was supposed to be a pushover. They wanted to bully her out through intimidation, making her realize she was “too inferior” to be a royal. Lots of gaslighting, deliberately not teaching her about conventions (not telling her to wear a hat on the queens train ride—I bet people told her she wouldnt need one). I’ll bet they even encouraged her to wear designer clothes as something they could bash her with later.
Meghan was not supposed to come in with work to be done. The cookbook plus the tour really set them off. She did the cookbook on her own without KP is my guess. They would have leaked it or undermined it for sure. She made them look bad. She made KP look incompetent. That’s when the bullying ramped up, as well as what I’ll call “project pregnancy loss.” Yes, I’m going there. They trotted out her father then. Piers ramped up the bashing. William had it in for her. 250 years ago he would have poisoned her. I wish a KP attendant would go rogue and tell the truth about their so called golden boy.
Yes to all of this.
Perfect comment, Lanne, and ITA. They were going to use her to make Kate look good for once in her pathetic life because black people have been used as props and property by rich white people for centuries so hey, why would they stop now?
@lanne “250 years ago they would have poisoned her” yikes but not untrue…
“The institution just protected Meghan constantly” hahahah riiiiight, that’s what happened. Anyway, I can understand the complainants leaking their side of the complaint, but how is confidential HR correspondence between palace employees being disclosed? Seems like a major breach of, you know, law (as opposed to dumb, made up protocol).
By protection, I imagine they mean that they hid their copies of the RR tabloid articles and closed their windows looking at negative comments on the Daily Mail and social media whenever she walked past, only to start giggling again behind her back.
Whooooa Dan Wotton attacked Chris Ship on Twitter about his coverage on Meghan and Haz and Chris responded, and boy it’s interisting !!
I’m not on Twitter. Can you share what they’ve said?
@Midnight, google Dan Wotton Twitter account. It will bring up his twitter and you will be able to read it and the comments if he’s allowing them. Ditto Chris Ship or any of the others on Twitter. I’m not on Twitter either and that’s how I read them.
what was said? I’m blocked by both lol
It appears to me that people are supporting Dan Wooten and believe that Meghan is evil. 😬
Wow, Jason Knauff, you really want to be out here on this right now? Did he ever get around to “proving” partial ownership of Meghan’s personal letter to her father?
Not only is he referencing receipts he won’t produce, but I find it very eyebrow raising that they are acknowledging how closely tied he is to KP. That seems…not a good choice for the Cambridges.
If they had anything, ANYTHING, that actually made Meghan look bad, my belief is it would have been released by now. I think if anything they are more upset that M seems to have gone over, around, and through them to get sh*t done.
At this point, the only person who can correct this narrative is a court of law and with all those palace aides named as defendants. Let the lawsuits begin. I can’t fathom how Meghan is coping when we, her supporters, are all sickened and tired. It’s unconscionable.
William and Kate and the British media are so furious because, aside from the big Oprah interview, Meghan had a comprehensive win against the British press and was awarded a substantial amount of money. She crushed and torched them and won. And so they retaliated and dug up a couple of years old issue about the KP staff. They are now aggressively attacking her credibility and are belligerently vicious. They know they have to convince the world, which they think Meghan is winning over in terms of sympathy, that Meghan was never a victim. But the timing of The Times piece is suspect. And people who are more discerning will never take this hook, line and sinker. The world knows William and the British media are doing a hatchet job on Meghan. They are going for the K.i.L.L. And this is exactly what Prince Harry feared the most— history repeating itself. Remember what happened to Princess Diana in the Paris tunnel? If not that they will make sure that the Black Duchess will fail in all her undertakings and live to regret she ever crossed the cruel future-future king and the bully British press. Thank God the world knows the truth and is pushing back. We refused to be fooled by these racist lot.
All of this. They so badly want to take the hate campaign to the US. They can’t stand that she’s not hated and bullied in her home country and the rest if the world. That idiot Richard Palmer basically admitted this, how they, the BRF and BM, are frustrated that the US media is uninterested in BM reporting on Meghan and how they see her as an “American princess” to be protected. They’re so pissed that she has bigger power behind her and that they can no longer taint her.
Did he forget the reason why the US even exists as a country? A whole revolution happened because they didn’t want that family telling them what to do from abroad.
These people actually think the powerful American news media, including Oprah and the suits at CBS, are going to take their cues from a bunch of gossip reporters in the UK. This dude writes for The Express and he just can’t understand why CBS won’t take his writings about evil nasty Meghan seriously.
How utterly stupid and shortsighted to publish this hit piece before the special airs. It’s so vague, but libelous. No specific dates or incidents. Just this vague description of white woman tears. Nothing substantial or evidentiary given to prove the claims. Jason is a loyal sycophant to the Cambridges. As usual the genius, William, didn’t think before he lashed out at Meghan. Harry truly has no reason to play nice with him and he shouldn’t. The only why to stop a bully is to punch him in the nose and knock him down. Release your receipts, Sussexes!
My God. What did they do to this poor woman behind the scenes? To initiate this kind of smear campaign in reaction to an interview that hasn’t been broadcast yet is very telling. I do suppose though that Harry & Meghan were prepared and anticipated this kind of reaction/pushback. I do hope they let the world know exactly what they suffered and have the receipts to back it up.
Isn’t there a budget today in the UK? Is this their deflection tactic? Oooh look, a rabbit.
Meghan is our duchess of solutions.
LOL @”Oooh look, a rabbit” Around here we use squirrel in place of rabbit. I wonder what else gets used?
I’ve been trying to not comment on these stories because they are upsetting to the core. As a WOC in a white space where white people (especially I am sad to say, white women report to me), when they go on the Tears for Fears campaign against you, it is so damaging. My own fkin EA who reports to ME is on a her white tears tours because she refused to do as directed, not the first time, but month and months of it, will flat out say ‘no’ and then cry when she’s told she has no choice. Her latest attempt was to go to one of leadership team to out me ‘bullying’ her and to talk about ‘my tone’ because I shouldn’t be annoyed when her work is subpar. Ugh. She was too dumb and her complaint and ‘proof’ only 100% showed she’s not following direction, but it revealed a major F-Up in her work that impacted us. I am interviewing for her replacement.
While it is not at Meghan levels of exposure, I know exactly what these functional illiterates are doing with the vague ‘bullying’ and ‘difficult’ labels. F these racists. This is why I didn’t want to comment or read these stories, they make me angry and swear-y.
I feel you. I don’t think there’s a black woman who’s worked in corporate America who hasn’t experienced something like this. This is backfiring on them. They’re so stupid and racist that they really thought using the “angry aggressive black woman” trope was going to prove something. Idiots.
I told y’all that Philip’s ass is not gravely ill. I told y’all it was a stunt and a ploy by the palace and the media and the British establishment as a whole to try to stop this interview. Nobody bought it so now they’ve moved on to accusing her of what they have actually done to her: bullying.
These people are so deeply racist and stupid that they’re actually using a tired old racist trope, the ball busting angry black woman, to try to claim they weren’t racist to her. It’s mind boggling.
One thing is that it’s been great to see the pushback on this. A goid 90 percent of the comments I’ve seen under tweets a out this are actually calling out the bullshit and supporting Meghan.
This is so damn ugly. A complete smear campaign. Non-existent allegations, won’t even say what she supposedly did but know that all they have to say is “bullying” and it’ll be on every front page in the media. Well, it’s backfiring spectacularly. Those idiots really thought they did something.
I’d say even more than 90% are sniffing out the bullshit, at least last night when this first broke. The only ones trying to give this credibility are the usual detractors and the crop of obvious bots that have been purchased in the last week or so. The maliciousness of this smear is rightfully upsetting a lot of people.
No one’s falling for it. I’m seeing almost nothing but pushback. This is why I said the the interview will indeed be a success. People are aware more than ever, thanks to Me Too and BLM, about how shit goes down for women in general and people of color. And people are more aware of the specific racial and sexist shit black women in particular have to deal with. This isn’t going to fly in 2021.
Yup. Camilla is quoted today as saying Prince Philip is feeling better. Will realized that Philip wasn’t going to die in time to save him from facing the Oprah music so went for the bully and earrings=in bed with a murderer attack.
He was never seriously ill. They used “updates” to drum up fear so they and the media could try to guilt HM into dropping the interview. The actual status of his health never even changed. A simple act of moving him to another hospital so they could better monitor his heart condition as the infection clears up was turned into a death rattle. The man was supposedly taking his last breathes yesterday, now he’s “fine”. It was all a desperate stunt. Folks better learn to stop giving these monsters the benefit of the doubt. They lie to the public with impunity. Of course they’d manipulate Philip’s hospital stay in order to save their asses being exposed in an interview watched by the whole world.
IDK, I’m seeing a chunk of nasty comments towards M+H on that Chris Ship tweet, though it’s the same old tired crap. Maybe they are bots, but still frustrating though. There is a pretty good amount of support though, that is true.
Chris Ship is one of the mugxit go to reporters. The fact that he has any push back at all under his tweets is significant. Outside of rota rat Twitter, there is major pushback.
Yeah, Ship, Morgan, Wootton – they love the anti-Sussex crowd and encourage them.
The fact that this story is published in the Times means its getting more traction than I think it would have if it were in the Sun or the DM, but the downside of that for the Times is that people are seeing it who dont follow royal gossip. It did reach a larger audience but that larger audience is not buying it. I mean Chance the Rapper has a tweet about this mess. An anti-bullying organization tweeted about it in SUPPORT of Meghan.
This was a major miscalculation on KP’s part. If Meghan behaved improperly, give examples. Cite specific situations. Saying “I was terrified because I called her and she didnt pick up” isnt really the definition of bullying.
All true points. A lot of the tweets were bashing Ship, like — “what happened to you? you went over to the dark side?” LOL. These people are so crazy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Phillip actually did go into hospital care. He’s 99. There’s absolutely nothing out of the ordinary there. But I think a dim lightbulb lit up over Bill’s bald head reflecting it to make it brighter and he was like, “Let’s use granddad to deflect!” and concocted a plan to drag it out. Ughhh.
On the one hand, words like bullying, abuse, and gaslighting have been tortured into meaningless by those who use them like weapons (or simply lack dictionaries), and are so very often applied without merit. I’ve seen them used against people for the dreadful crime of simply disagreeing with someone else about where to eat supper. Professors get called “bullies” now for not giving mediocre students who skip half their classes an A.
On the other hand, we just went through a major actual-bullying scandal in Canada: our Governor General (the Queen’s representative–maybe that’s where they got the idea!) left her post after some pretty awful stories came out about the toxic workplace she and her Girl Friday created (and we now know she has a track record from previous big jobs). No one is doubting that one–there’s way too much smoke over too many years.
This one? Yeah, not so credible. But I wouldn’t claim to be an expert either way.
Adding: I know more and more, due to deep fake, video and voice recordings are losing their evidentiary weight, but man, if I were being bullied in the workplace *especially* by someone considered a VIP, I’d be hitting “record” on my phone in my pocket and getting those receipts. And keeping emails. Let’s see the proof, folks.
OT: As an editor, I want to burn the palace’s style guide in a barrel every time they capitalize The before Queen, Duke, etc. That’s how they do it. Doesn’t make it right. Barf.
This is just an extremely vile tactic to further harass Meghan. I find it absolutely distressing and I wonder how Meghan feels.
I can’t even wrap my mind around what kind of toxic workplace H&M endured. Talk about hostile workplace environment. KP dialed it up way past 11.
This is so gross! Down with the British monarchy!
My God. This whole thing is so gross. As a black woman I am having some really bad flashbacks to toxic work environments where I was supposedly the problem because I knew too much and intimidated people, looked angry in meetings sometimes, etc. Man…..
It is indeed triggering. I was pissed last night. I know exactly what this feels like yet I could not imagine going through it on a global scale. How Meghan is still alive , my god. It’s he’ll to have an office of 20 people trying to ruin you because you’re a black woman and they know they can get away with it. Meghan has a whole country coming for her. SMH. I feel a lot better today because the pushback has been amazing. People can see the bullshit and they’re calling it our.
That is what kills me. They are using the word bullying and the examples are she told you to do better work? She maybe sent some early emails? What the fuck?!
These KP flunkies and Boris Johnson boot-lickers would not last 8 hours in the engineering design-construction business. I had a boss hand me a four figure project bonus check and say thank you in one breath, then in the next breath told me to put on my skates and get prepared to “up your game X2” for the next project.
Jason Knauf seems like a complete tool, in more ways than one.
What they actually meant to say: “Staff working at an office run by people who have never held a job, surprised to have to finally work.”
Sometimes I wish that Meghan would just go nuclear housewife of someplace on them and just spew everything on her Socials gosh, this situation needs some Cardi B-type responses. The BRF is sick sick sick!
Translation: Meghan refused to allow racist BS and stood up for herself. Mmm. And the white women cried their fake tears.
They are still working from the same ‘how to smear a black woman’ playbook. It’s exactly the same as when meaning Meghan made poor innocent Kate cry over tights. It’s so f*cking transparent. I hope Meghan drags the straight to hell.
What did Meghan do that was bullying? Why hold back the details? If Jason sent the email, he obviously had concerns. So why stop with vague statements? If they want to destroy Meghan, surely telling us exactly what she did, would help accomplish that end??
They didn’t publish any details or context because they know it’s BS. One “source” claimed she was freaked out because Meghan didn’t pick up when she called her. Another comment basically said the staff couldn’t do their jobs properly. But no actual details on what Meghan supposedly did or said to create this awful environment.
It’s just like that Kate cried story. They rely on the flashy headline and hope people will form an opinion right then and there. With that story, it took two years to reveal there was “tension” over children wearing tights or not.
Loyal rota rat Chris Ship has made a few interesting tweets where he’s low-key calling out the Firm. He works for ITV and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gotten wind from someone in the know of what was said. Looks like he’s trying to be on the right side of history suddenly. He’s a coward jumping ship of course, but it’s very interesting. Makes me hopeful that Meghan and Harry went all in.
I agree that the RR is bad news and Meghan is so brave going against them. But I do not like the term rat associated with people.
I agree that the RR is bad news and Meghan is so brave going against them. But I do not like the term rat associated with people.
Chris Ship straddles the line. He works for ITV so he’s going to toe the company line and support the network for buying the right to air the interview. After the interview airs, he will be back to his toxic ways and protecting the monarch by any means necessary.
What has Chris Sh*t been saying now? I think all the ratchet rota are running around like headless chickens cos they are afraid.
The one that stands out to me is that he said the royal family cant bring up “never complain, never explain” again and that the royal family cant complain, in this instance, about the timing of the interview when they’re letting this story go.
He also said on the piers show that the complainants did not know Jason was going public with this.
That or he thinks the truth is going to come out sooner rather than later and he wants to be the first with the hot scoop.
I do not think that either BP, CH or KP is behind this. It makes them all look unbelieveably bad, including W&K. I hope Meghan and the baby are ok, it must be so stressful.
None of the palaces fired anyone or clamped down on leaks the past few years they were smearing Meghan. There’s no way royal aides would’ve breached their NDAs and talked about internal communications and matters in a coordinated attack to smear a royal, if it wasn’t sanctioned by the palaces. This is unprecedented.
The palace protects their own, but stil I don’t get why they would approve this story. It will not gain them any sympathy points.
Jason Knauf is part of the Cambridge foundation so he and KP are literally behind this. Unless he’s fired tomorrow from his position, this is William approving this leak to the media, which is also likely a huge privacy breach given that the complainants are now saying they didn’t agree to this.
Man……..
Exactly. this isnt like some of the other stories where we can debate the origin. This is straight from Kensington Palace. If its not sanctioned, then I would expect Jason Knauf to be immediately fired for leaking an email like that, and I would expect other heads to roll at KP. But we arent going to see that, because this is 100% from William.
Another clue that William/Kate/KP are behind something is that it usually doesnt have the effect that they think it will – see: Tatler article and then the subsequent hysteria around it, hiding William’s COVID diagnosis, leaking the stupid story about Kate crying over tights, etc.
You forgot one: Article from Richard Kay about Rose Bush gardening in Turnip Toff Land.
I have tried very hard not to h-word (as baby girl girl and our family says) the Q, Charles, the Dolittles and the assorted snakes, but they make it so difficult. It’s the abusers/racists playbook and I find it really triggering. I read a headline part of this last night and I had a bad dream about my long past abuser. Sorry evil-doers, many of us, especially those thriving from past abuse and BIPOC see you very clearly. Those who ignore their intelligence, true, will eat this up, keep playing to your base, I guess. I don’t see any value or satisfaction from your actions.
Interesting that we’re seeing stories that “BP never smeared Meg”… when Meg and Harry’s statement never said that. They simply said “smear campaign” and never specifically accused anyone of being behind it.
You’re telling on yourselves, BP.
And this is an old smear campaign too. This is 100% rehashing “Hillary’s emails” right before the election in a final desperate attempt to “win.” Replace that with “Meghan was mean” right before the Oprah interview.
They keep getting more and more pathetic. Add this to using a 99 year old man’s naturally declining health to deflect what a-holes they are. Keep sniveling. It’s not obvious what they’re doing or anything.
Meghan could be an a*whole and it still wouldn’t have warranted the relentless and over the top racist abuse over the past few years. And even if she were this cartoonishly evil character whose missed calls make staff shake, this sanctioned breach of confidentiality is absolutely stunning. They always protect their own, even when they publicly mess up bad like Sophie. The whole concept of the monarchy is predicated on the royals being their betters yet for some reason they couldn’t give that same deference to the black princess
For KP to be going this crazy, William did something really bad.
I have been looking forward to the Oprah – Interview, but right now I wish it would be already over and done. There will be so much garbage thrown at them again, especially at Meghan. I don’t know If this was their wisest decision.
They were making attacks like these without the advanced knowledge of an interview with Oprah. Staying silent in the face of abuse should not be the takeaway from all this. It reads as concern trolling.
That is not a nice thing to say. I never said she should keep her silence forever. But she is pregnant and her first one was very stressful and she had a miscarrige. I just hope she is ok with her desicion. But If that makes me a troll for being concerned, them I don’t know what to say.
@Lanie, I don’t think @Mira is trolling, just concerned that Meghan is once again in harms way. The interview we can acknowledged kicked up the hornets nest again. No, the attacks had not stopped, but they were less of them, especially when the Sussexes weren’t seen unlike when they were in England where whether Meghan was seen or not, the attacks were ongoing. The triple news of winning the lawsuit, pregnancy and interview restarted all that. Having said that, I’m of two minds, I hate that this is happening and wish Meghan didn’t have to go through this while pregnant, or period. But I completely get it if their thoughts are, lets put this to bed and get on with our lives. These two are advocates and Meghan in particular believe in women/girls using their voices and society listening. Of course she feels the need to speak up now she can given the way she was silenced. I support her decision, but I absolutely get where @Mira is coming from.
There was never going to be any good time to do this. This was ALWAYS going to be the reaction from the RR, and I can guarantee they hit the “enough is enough” stage a LOOOONG time ago. It’s just that now they are in a position to actually freely speak out. They should not cower any longer and I only wish them well.
I don’t think you’re a troll Mira. But your comment reeks of “respectability politics.” Do everything right, and then the racists and sexists can’t say anything about you. Except that it doesn’t work like that. When Meghan was silent, the bullying was the loudest. She said one word in the teaser and look what the RF has done. Her crime is existing, and not being “grateful enough”. Nothing can fix that. I don’t think she’s surprised by this. I think they both knew the teaser would trigger KP and William. But this way, they get their story out, and then they can move forward in peace. The RF will be left as the villains of the story. The smart move for them after all would be to wait and see what she says. But all they have done is justify for a lot of people why they left and blast their own toxicity for all the world to see. We have to stop asking WOC to be martyrs. Meghan has the right to her own story, as does Harry. After they tell it, then people can respond as they will. But all this palace nonsense suggests that people think they don’t have the right to their own story just because they didn’t want to stay. That’s wrong.
@Ianne That was so well written and said—Bravo to you. You said everything I couldn’t quite put into words. Thank you for that.
Yup. For BIPOC, those goalposts will eternally be moved when it comes to respectability politics. They’ve stayed silent and endured this abuse long enough.
It does not surprise me that these accusations by the Firm are coming out now. They also went on the offensive just before Finding Freedom came out … tightsgate, Angela Kelly and the tiara, etc.
So…. Prince William is continually described as “incandescent with rage” but Meghan is the bully who makes folks cry?
Sell me another, British Media.
Has William’s staff gone to HR to complain about his incandescent rages? I’m sure he’s no angel with them.
And Lainey has a great article about this existence of an HR department.
Jason, the Cambridges, KP, the BM, and Charles by his tacit acceptance, ALL set out with malice aforethought to take Meghan down any way possible and as soon as possible. It’s utterly disgusting and they don’t seem to realize that by using her as a scapegoat and punching bag, they’re totally revealing their guilt, racism and misogyny. Now that the Oprah interview is looming they’re all going into overdrive to cover their a$$es and push totally unfounded bullsh*t about her. She is no more a bully than my cat (who is presently sitting on my lap purring and looking up at me adoringly). What she IS is accomplished, intelligent, hard-working and focused on working for the people — something the BRF is SUPPOSED to do, but have failed miserably, especially with Willnot and Kannot. Those two are an embarrassment to the royal family and to the UK. My fervent wish is that the Sussexes reveal just enough to show they have proof that will bury the Cambridges, KP and the tabloids. This is getting into “no holes barred” territory.
Remember too, it’s not just the Oprah interview coming up. The Commonwealth Day program is also on Sunday.
So, the RF drives out, then maligns and slanders (again) the only black member of the family, then gets together to celebrate the important ties to the Commonwealth, a large portion of whose population is – not white.
Anybody in the Firm not have their head up their a**?
They are quaking in their tiaras about what Meghan is going to say. GOOD. This attack is complete BS and makes them look weak and scared. I hope they add an extra hour to the interview!
I’m sure Royal staff must sign nondisclosure agreements. So the fact that Jason Knauf is releasing this information means someone gave him permission to. He was the former communications secretary for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, so wouldn’t that have to be his former boss, William?
BP just put out that they will be investigating the bullying claims. Jesus.
Jesus, indeed.
So, BP has no comment on the release of e-mails? Or an explanation as to why, if this was so egregious, they didn’t investigate 2+ years ago? Or if they investigated Charles’ black employee’s charges of bullying and racism by members of his staff? Or Anne’s employees stating Anne was horrid to them? So, we are just looking at Meghan? Got it, BP!
I am shocked. Legitimately shocked. This was not the right response here.
My guess is they are misreading the room, and thinking the outrage is over Meghan’s bullying ways, and not over the gaslighting and racist coverage.
If I were H&M I’d be back on the phone with Oprah immediately.
ALSO does bP really want to open up investigations of how royals treat staff? Because I’m sure there are some really bad stories over the years.
Agree to being shocked and also really really angry. If this knauf had this email from 2 years ago why wasnt there an investigation then? Does this not make them look transparently terrible? These aren’t new allegations so how can this be some justice seeking investigation out of concern for the bullied if it is happening 2 years later? ….and days before the interview? How does this not look surreal?
This “investigation” is literally the stupidest response one could make to this slop and a pat on the back to Willcandescent for his smear campaign. Must be the bright idea of the Queen’s new official, the former MI5 director, who just joined her staff. He is probably salivating at the idea of wielding his investigatory powers over Meghan. What a joke.
The backlash has started outside the royal bubble. I haven’t seen many blue check white allies though.
Burn this shit down to the ground. How dare they try to pull an Amy Cooper on her with this kangaroo court investigation.
You were scared to call Duchess Meghan? You were shaking? Why?
There’s a reason Kiwis and Aussies are popular hires in the UK, because they work and get shit done. I didn’t really think much of it before but it helps make sense of this situation. Meghan brought a work ethic to the Palace that was a shock that shouldn’t have been.
As for the work bullying… I know what that feels alike and I could name several situations and how they unfolded very specifically years later because that’s what it does to you, or at least what it did to me. These vague accusations sound dodgy as hell.
I back @feebee ‘s comment. At one stage when I lived in the UK I used to temp so was going to a lot of different offices. I was often told “oh good, you’re a kiwi”, when I asked why I got the same response as @feebee, because we got the work done.
If this keeps up, this will turn into a high level diplomatic crises. This is turning into a major media event and getting crazy. The Saudi royals are being roped in, the Us & UK bigger Middle eastern ally after Israel,after the Biden administration is imposing limited sanctions and tiptoeing around MBS, is just next level. I’m sure the head of the network will be roped into this will and there will be a lot of pressure to kill or heavily edit this. This is just crazy, and no one except the principles involved knows what is actually being said. Everyone is going to watch this and I don’t think going to be this explosive hit job the BRF think it’s going to be, but again ,the press and the courtiers will feel most of the heat, they Sussexes will be accused of being privileged whiners, and there will be a gazillion hit pieces for the next 6 months. I don’t see how it can live up to the hype, and it may be a very good interview, but not in the way we expect. I have no idea but this reaction is insane.
Have you seen the news that BP is ‘investigating’ this? How much farther are they going to push this (pregnant) woman?!
Yes. I am so cross. I feel that Harry should blow this institution up but I know that’s my anger talking. This is a time for cool heads.
They must be really worried about what Meghan has said to Oprah and are getting their retaliation in first. It’s appalling. I didn’t even know KP had a HR department.
I know Harry and Meghan are fine but I feel for them. She’s pregnant too. It’s meant to be happy time. The royals are the worst.
Harry could for all we know. What is he supposed to do? Issue a statement? That was done yesterday. I know you guys want someone to blame but blame the press and RF, not Harry. People are seeing right thru this. This isn’t having the impact they hoped it would. BP should have kept their mouth shut. All they are doing is proving Harry and Meghan right.
I’m shaking I’m so mad right now. This is actually effecting my mental health so I can’t imaging what it’s doing to theirs. I hope the whole institution burns to the ground.
Me too, FP. I’m so f*cking mad I can barely breathe right now. So angry I’m trembling.
Oh wow, I forgot she’s also pregnant. Seriously how do people think we’re going to look back on this in 20 years? ? History is not going to be kind to all these media outlets that are harassing her for no apparent reason. Personally, I hope this is the flashpoint for the beginning of the end for the monarchy.
The complete OTT reaction is just insane and the BP statement about an investigation is just something else. If they are so concerned why wasn’t it investigated in 2018? Why now? So bizarre. All because they’re scared of what she might say. What if the only people she says anything about is the media? Then what? They went scorched earth for nothing. So bizarre.
Right?!? They are opening a can of worms. The press have laughed for years about how awful Prince Phillip was. There are stories upon stories about how rude and demanding Andrew has been. How difficult Charles AND William can be. I hope they investigate all the staff that have left the Cambridges’ office too. Especially the one that was fired when she returned from her honeymoon. Or the big one being Angela Kelley who has a fist fight with another staffer over an affair she was having with the staffer’s husband while at work and how the other staff don’t like her “bullying” tactics. They played this very wrong.
This is truly a sad day. I was a huge Diana fan. She was my first real princess. I now know she never had a chance and I am so sad that I in any way contributed to her demise. I am relieved that Harry and Meghan got out when they did and their family is safe. There is a reason they didn’t bring Archie. This family is ruthless. There is no coming back from this.
So Buckingham Palace decides it’s good idea to pour gasoline on already lit fires they really wanted to harass and bullied pregnant Meghan again it’s been two years . Now all suddenly they wanted to take a stand against bullying when it’s come to their white staffers but they have no problem with that same staff calling up the press and leaking lies and slander against Meghan . Now when white people complain about bullying the palace takes actions against the only member of color in the royal family. I hope karma comes for Jason William and Kate big time . I don’t believe Meghan is bully I think for one day everyone in the palace especially Kensington Palace we’re ready to undermine Meghan at any cost and get her to leave the family . The nasty names this staffers called Meghan behind her back and told the press about without any afraid of getting in Trouble tells me that orders came for William and Kate to treat Meghan with the most disrespected.
So Buckingham Palace decides it’s good idea to pour gasoline on already lit fires they really wanted to harass and bullied pregnant Meghan like they this it’s been how many years . Now all suddenly they wanted to take a stand against bullying when it’s come to their white staffers but they have no problem with that same staff calling up the press and leaking lies and slander against Meghan . Now when white people complain about bullying the palace takes actions against the only member of color in the royal family. I hope karma comes for Jason William and Kate big time . I don’t believe Meghan is bully I think for one day everyone in the palace especially Kensington Palace we’re ready to undermine Meghan at any cost and get her to leave the family . The nasty names this staffers called Meghan behind her back and told the press about without any afraid of getting in Trouble tells me that orders came for William and Kate to treat Meghan with the most disrespected.
These functional illiterates decided to deny smearing by launching their worse smearing campaign yet. The only ‘good thing’ is that, their playbook is pretty predictable and Meghan and Harry (likely more Meghan) anticipated this play. You know something, watching these people and thinking back, it is easy to see why so many people believe Diana was bumped off.
This smells like PR expertise of Prince Incandescent. It is already blowing up in their face as a lot of people are calling BS. Plus, if they wanted to make people even more interested in the Ophra interview congrats now there are Twitter watch parties forming. Not one mind was changed. If you are a racist who loves milk toast and buttons you still love W&K. If you like H&M you see the BS. What they did manage to do was get a lot of folks who usually don’t care to say hummm this seems like BS
and smells like BS too!
Yes! The Royal family has been busy. My phone auto offers the word Incandescent to me when I type inc lol. That is a sign even my phone can smell the BS
I think that CBS should pull this interview, re-record it and let Meghan and Harry burn the palaces to the ground till there is nothing left but a smoldering pile of tiaras.
I want that, but for their sake, I hope it’s the opposite. I hope they reserve their ire for the media and talk about the courtiers as a group. When everything the royals fear doesn’t happen, they will be left standing their with their toxicity naked for all to see.
Revenge is a dish best served cold. What Harry and Meghan know will eventually be revealed but all in good time. That way they’re holding the threat of spilling what happened over their heads until the right time.
I respect you all; I think I will stay off the internet until Sunday. Seeing the lengths people are willing to go to, to destroy her, is way too sad!
I think the RF does not know what they have started; they have gotten US Americans interested in this negativity; they will live to regret the day they decided to go after Meghan Markle in the age of the internet
What should the Sussexes do? I have seen some here say H&M should cut all ties. I think H&M should renounce those titles, completely remove Archie from the line of succession.
This negativity is not worth it! I can’t even imagine how Meghan must feel
Now that the royal family realizes Harry will not abandon Meghan and his children, I believe without a doubt that they are committed to forcing Harry to cut all ties so he will renounce his titles and completely remove himself and his children from the line of royal succession. These people have no love for each other. Keeping their royal bloodline pure is their only agenda and it’s prioritized over everything. As horrible as that sounds, I can’t see it any other way now. The royal family no longer cares what it looks like to the rest of the world.
This is affecting me mentally and I am not even Meghan! my gosh, I cannot imagine what she must be feeling!
H&M have to strike back and strike HARD! I hope they do
Where is Charles in all of this? where is he hiding?
@Bren — I get your point but I think at this point, it is best to cut all ties. Even if he has to petition parliament, H must remove himself and his kids from that line of succession. It is ok the royal family can go back to being all white… that’s ok but at least Meghan and his kids will survive.
When I look back at all of this, no man, I mean NO MAN is worth all of this! something is very toxic over there, very,………..
Giving it more thought the investigation by BP is not doubling down but CYA for the House of Windsor. BP announced this to buy time to clean up KP’s mess. Slick Willie and Co. boxed the royal house in now that sections of these lies have been debunked. Looking at Knauf and Case to be the fall guys, especially if no member of the royal family gets dragged in Oprah’s interview.
This could be it. There’s an “investigation,” nothing is found, and it gives cover for firing Knauf. He’s not fired for being a “whistle blower,” he’s fired for leaking info to the papers. He takes the fall like that advisor took the fall in the latest season of the Crown.
It’s their investigation and it’s a joke! The results of the investigation will reveal what they want it to show. No one holds the royal family accountable, not even the British government. I doubt Jason Knauf will lose his job. He’ll most likely get another promotion for a job well done.
The queen and Charles’s only priority is protecting Will even though he continues to bring mental anguish to Harry and Meghan. These people don’t care about family, They only care about the heirs and protecting the crown.
Meanwhile the American media will write about this. Not a smart way to do it. Jason could have left like Christian Jones. They’re trying to humiliate Meghan and test Harry’s loyalty.
I’m honestly starting to wonder if transcripts of the interview have made it to BP and Meghan does call out the palace bullying hence this very heavy handed attack.
Or they know nothing and they’re going after a woman who might not say anything at all.
I see Buckingham Palace wants to make things worse for the RF with that disgusting statement about investigating this nonsense. “Dignity at work” my ass. Where was that policy when Meghan was subject to insults and leaks from staff? If anything, this poorly thought out statement is only making the backlash stronger.
“Dignity at work” unless you work for Prince Andrew, that is.
SO gross. BP is exemplifying what Meghan was up against. And the way they will crack down on her but not Andrew further illustrates the point!
@Juju You think it’s right for a black woman to be bullied during both her pregnancies and that she should just shut up and take her seat? Guess what: it’s a different world now. Black people are taking their power without waiting for permission from old white institutions. They gave Meghan hell. She deserved none of it. Her voice matters and I hope it reverberates around the world.
What wretched, horrible beings. It’s astounding that this is happening to them all over again.
If this is from Will/Kate camp, they are despicable
You’re mistaking the tabloid press’s actions with M&H’s. They left and have been minding their own business but the press continues to write about them Every Single Day.
Pimp Mama Carole putting her two cents in and joining the pile on. She’s canceling some event she had scheduled for her business out of “respect for Prince Philip” and that she informed her dear future king son-in-law because she respects the chain of command unlike some people. Pathetic opportunistic wannabe aristocrat. And stupid on top of that. These people always tell on themselves. Thanks for confirming that this is coming from Badly and Doormat, Carole.
Doing PR to announce she won’t be doing PR. 🤷♀️
It’s laughable that the worst thing Meghan is accused of is not answering her phone whereas William and Kate have openly weaponized the press against her in plain sight. Only fools buy into the tabloid narrative. Anyone with a shred of critical thinking can see what’s going on and I just hope Meghan and Harry know that SO many people here in the UK see the smear campaign for what it is, and we know whose to blame and why. William is perfectly happy to do to Meghan what the men in grey did to his mother and fortunately the people here in Scotland see him for exactly who he is. Shame on him and his pathetic wife. Karma will come for them in the end.
Though I know nothing about this situation personally, I know Meghan doesn’t deserve to be dragged through the mud like this. She’ll join a long list of women who were harassed relentlessly by the media: Monica, Britney, Anna Nicole, Tonya Harding etc. it’s a repeating pattern. Most of the idiots dogpiling also said horrible things about those women, they’re just rotten to the core.
You know incandescent Willie saw the side by side videos of Harry climbing that rope unaided while Willie had a gajillion school children propping his sorry behind on the two foot balance beam (with helmet and support ropes), and went nuclear. I have a sneaking suspicion the aristo set showed him, laughed at him, and passed that video around and he’s humiliated. This is the result.
He’s so blatant about this latest stunt because he knows the British media and palaces have his back but he’s too myopic and dimwitted to see that the rest of the world can see through this. How stupid do you have to be to promote Jason Knauf to the Cambridge foundation despite and after all the emails he’s leaked to the press about Meghan? He might as well come out and admit he is behind this but he’s too cowardly to own any of his behavior. Knauf is his henchman and fall guy. Dude is the living embodiment of a real life Joffrey Baratheon.
I really hope Oprah’s on the phone with Harry and Meghan right now. They have the receipts and if they didn’t go scorched earth in their interview taping before, they have all the reason in the world to now. I’d watch the hell out of another hour. Make it happen CBS!
Good job royal family and British media! They pull this right before common wealth day. I hope various POC and others from common wealth countries throw eggs and garbage at her and the rest of the maga 7 during the speech. They deserve that and much worse. What a bunch of idiotic twats!
@ KERI, you’re right that comparative video of Harry and William on a rope was really what set William on fire. It showed the world what an awkward, weak, and clumsy future king he is. That William video made my day. He was humiliated and shamed to death for the whole world to see. He deserves that and more. And Kate deserves all the bullying he gets from him. She, too, is complicit.
They really are that ignorant, KP and BP. It’s not just missteps anymore. We can all see exactly how unintelligent and dysfunctional the Royals truly are by setting themselves on fire with their own cigs. Burn baby burn! I’m truly dumbstruck by how thoroughly stupid they show themselves to be. CAN’T WAIT for the interview! Btw, who do you think will be the first to try and sneak in to strangle Phillip before Sunday? K or W or Carole or …. ?
hey royal family. let’s talk about the ultimate act of bullying called colonization. next, let’s talk about reparations.
It seems to me Prince William and kate are immature bosses who allowed the palace aides to run wild and go to the newspapers and release confidential internal memo. Prince Charles should step in and take over the governance of Kensington Palace.
Damn. Another cbs clip is out of the Oprah interview. Let’s just say that “i cannot wait to see this” is the understatement of the year. Lol. Let the firm, burn!
Oh Valentine Low, How low can you go. Are you a journalist or a character assassin. Does not Journalism has ethical code.