It cannot be overstated: Kensington Palace is Clownsington Palace. They are a complete and utter clownshow. I would place the blame on the lack of professionalism of the senior aides, but really, we have to blame Prince William and Kate. They’re the ones hiring these terrible people. So, Jason Knauf, the Cambridges and the KP staff had a big idea back in 2018: they began a campaign to defame, demean, smear and bully the Duchess of Sussex out of the country and out of her marriage. Part of the campaign was that every single person at KP freaked out whenever Meghan said anything to them. If Meghan asked for the time, aides would collapse into a tearful pile, knowing that Meghan was undermining their confidence. So began the long-con, the fail-safe smear against Meghan, which was boldly revealed just before the Sussexes’ Oprah interview this year: staffers complained that Meghan was a – gasp – bully.
It was one of the most obvious oppo dumps I’ve ever seen, and it came straight from Kensington Palace. Buckingham Palace compounded KP’s attempted character assassination by saying that they would open up an investigation into KP staffers’ claims, nevermind that those staffers already rescinded the claims. Post-Oprah interview, BP tried to get this catastrophe off their plate. They hired a law firm to conduct the review, and Meghan’s lawyer has been in touch with BP, “demanding to see any documents, emails or text messages relating to the bullying complaint against her.” What was originally supposed to be a three-month review has been going on for nine months, and sources have said we won’t hear anything until 2022. Now Becky English at the Daily Mail has some interesting news: “aides” are worried that the review is being half-assed and slow-walked?
A Buckingham Palace inquiry into allegations the Duchess of Sussex bullied staff has so far only interviewed ‘a tiny handful’ of people who worked for her. The revelation has prompted fears that the investigation, set up nine months ago, is being ‘kicked into the long grass’.
Palace aides announced in March that they were launching an internal inquiry into claims Meghan’s behaviour drove two personal assistants out of the household and ‘undermined the confidence’ of a third. Staff were said to have been left in tears and feeling ‘traumatised’.
The royal household subsequently employed a third-party law firm to probe the claims, paid for by the family privately, in a move that some predicted could increase tensions between Harry and Meghan and ‘the institution’. The allegations are strongly denied by the duchess, whose lawyers described them at the time as a ‘calculated smear campaign’.
But the Daily Mail has now established that only a small number of royal employees – both past and present – have actually been spoken to. These are likely to include the two PAs, another staff member and possibly Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who was then working as Prince William’s private secretary.
The Sussexes would, on average, have had around 15 employees working for them at any one time – with up to 25 over the course of Meghan’s brief time in the Royal Family between 2017 and 2020. But there is such a wall of silence around the entire probe, on the orders of the Queen’s ultra-cautious private secretary Sir Edward Young, that no one within the household has been told whether it is even still ongoing.
Part of the problem is that the Palace has never before had to deal with an official bullying complaint against a member of the royal family – effectively an employer – and so has no precedent on which to act. And with such a narrow scope of inquiry, sources ask what the investigation will actually achieve.
One told the Mail: ‘I think they [the Palace] are slightly caught between a rock and a hard place on this…There are obviously serious questions to be asked as to how the original complaints about bullying made against the duchess were handled internally. From what anyone hears, interviews have only taken place with a handful of people. It’s been far from comprehensive.’
First of all, it’s not on Buckingham Palace’s plate anymore, so I have no idea what these quotes are even about. Do the Kensington Palace clowns understand that the law firm is acting as a third-party so as to NOT get BP mixed up in the clownery? As for “only” interviewing a handful of people… Jason Knauf contacted Simon Case about three people who felt bullied by Meghan. I assume the law firm has spoken to those three people, even though those people rescinded their accusations before Knauf even leaked the story to the Times in March.
Anyway, the endgame: Buckingham Palace is trying to think of a way out of this which: A) doesn’t involve Meghan publicly calling out their lies and racism and B) doesn’t make William, Kate and Jason Knauf look like vindictive little morons. The fact that, in all of these years we’ve been hearing all of the hysteria about how Meghan treated staffers, we’ve never gotten any specifics is all you need to know about the crux of the review problem. If they had a good story of Meghan telling someone off or yelling at someone for incompetence, we truly would have heard that story by now.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, NYT, Backgrid.
You mean PWT feels this is being ‘slow-walked’, as part of his insane desire to punish Meghan at every turn.
It’s time for someone to do a deep-dive into Jason Knauf.
-Are the historical bullying complaints (Charles throwing missiles, Margaret and her human ashtrays, Paedrew for pretty much everything) ever going to be addressed?
I think they are setting up the narrative of “the royals are protecting meghan!”
Lets be clear here: Meghan isn’t a bully and she most definitely never bullied anyone. But by pretending that the investigation is half-assed, they have an excuse for when the results come out and there is no evidence of bullying.
I completely agree this is part of a “distract, distract, distract” strategy, but I think they are slow-walking it until Harry’s memoir comes out, rather than distracting from other assorted scandals. It will find that Meghan was ‘inappropriate’ or ‘abused her position of power’ but never disclose what “happened” on the basis of “protecting the privacy of the victims” and install some HR complaint system to “protect future staff.” This way they can keep the (fictitious) allegations alive, but not explain them, while be seen to take some tokenistic action. The Sussexes will not play along of course, and I hope will demolish this whole smear effort- with receipts. And point to the hypocrisy, with examples of bullying by other Royals.
@SaraTor….all that youve said would be pushed back against HARD by M’s lawyers such that such obfuscation wd never see the light of day. The report cant say M was “inapproriate” or “abused her position of power” without stating specifically, what action she took which was “inappropriate” or what did she do that was an “abuse of her position of power.” In other words, they cant just use descriptive words without the “thing” which she supposedly did to merit those descriptive words. Thats not how it works and M’s lawyers would NOT allow them to get away with that.
Its why, even tho I’m impatient with the length of time this is taking, M’s lawyers are giving BP?KP?their lawyers? EVERY OPPORTUNITY to take even more than a reasonable amount of time to make their case, before putting all their heads in a noose. Those fckers in palaces are going to be made to apologize or, if they balk, as they most likely will, M’s lawyers will put out their OWN report which will show that indeed, it was a smear campaign orchestrated by the principals in KP and covered-up by the principals in BP.
So to me, the fact that they are not interviewing that many people can either be a good thing or a bad thing.
The good: The law firm and BP realize this is a waste of time and money and are doing just enough to give the appearance of an investigation, at the conclusion of which Meghan will be exonerated, so we will never hear that conclusion of course.
The bad: it seems they are interviewing the people who were most involved with the smear campaign (Simon Case, Jason Knauf, maybe the three people who went to Jason over the “bullying”) so that’s going to skew the investigation AGAINST Meghan.
Either way though, I don’t think we will ever hear any sort of conclusion on this. The palace does not want anything established in terms of how to handle bullying members of the royal family. Do we think William and Kate are all smiles and sunshine with their staff? Or Charles? Or Edward and Sophie? They don’t want any sort of precedent established for employees to be able to push back against the royals. So I think this is going to go quietly into the night…..IF Buckingham Palace has its way.
Of course, since they decided to attack Meghan once again, the Sussexes are not going to let this go quietly. I’m sure there is a lot of resentment at KP for putting this out there right before the interview. (I know the rumors were first put out back in 2018ish, but the new oppo dump in March was the one that was so obvious it got everyone’s attention.)
ETA “resentment at KP” from Buckingham Palace and Clarence House. I think the Firm is probably ticked that they have to play clean up on this one bc William overplayed his hand.
@Becks: Even if the law firm finds that Meghan is innocent of wrongdoing, I think the Palace will seek to ensure, by the way the information is released to the press, that she is not exonerated. If the Palace does this, I think Meghan will be forced to release a statement describing what happened to her under KP.
Exactly – they will never release that conclusion – I think that’s what’s happening now to be honest – they know that this is all BS, so they’re trying to drag it out enough hoping that people lose interest and that its a nothing story that can just go away, maybe with a quiet statement about “cultural differences” or something.
But Meghan isn’t going to let that stand, and neither are her lawyers. So there’s basically no way to end this that isn’t messy for the Firm, but oh well, William is an ahole so here we are.
If they are using a third party isnt the law firm obligated to be fair and neutral!?? I mean they wouldnt want Meghans lawyer coming for their repution for being unethical.
@Noki: The law firm would like that but the Palace is known to manipulate information to suit their agenda. We saw this with the CH annual report which included Meghan and Harry in Charles’ expenses when last year’s report explicitly said that that he had stopped funding them at the end of March 2020.
@Noki – I would assume the law firm is trying to be fair and neutral, but I am also assuming that they are going to give the results of the investigation to Buckingham Palace, not release the results itself with no consultation with the Firm.
So, if the law firm finds that there is nothing to these allegations (or maybe finds that yes, Meghan did ask the staff to come to meetings once a week so the allegation is true, but that’s not bullying, which is what I think is happening), they’ll give a report to BP and then BP will spin that report in the press to somehow still make Meghan look like a bully or will just try to make the whole thing go away.
I don’t think the law firm is releasing anything directly to the public.
Wouldn’t Meghan’s lawyers have something to say about this? She has the right to know the results of the investigation and she could release the results.
Exactly this- they don’t want Meghan to be in position to actually clear her name on this bullying stuff.
Plus review isn’t about whether Meghan bullied staff but supposedly about how the complaint Jason Knauf made was handled internally. That’s why Meghan & Harry aren’t being interviewed for it etc. Apparently nobody spoke to the staff (who rescinded Knauf’s complaint once they found out about it) before the bullying review was announced by BP so from a legal/HR perspective it’s just a shambles.
If the staff that were named asked for complaint to be rescinded & most involved parties don’t work for the firm anymore, how can there be a review. There is no real review. Idea of an investigation was just to hit the press before Oprah. the palace’s law firm has probably just been tasked with looking at workplace policies to save face. The palace will introduce some updated dignity at work policy etc about complaints handling whilst going to the press with innuendo etc on what Meghan allegedly did & how they want to leave it in the past & not let Meghan’s ‘behaviour’ overshadow the jubilee etc. The press will probably be careful enough with how they report on these developments (beyond clickbait headline) so Meghan doesn’t have grounds to sue.
@Eurydice –
exactly, that’s part of the whole problem and why this is so messy. Right now, I think BP is just hoping this can get swept under the rug, but Meghan’s lawyers all over this and they can’t just bury the investigation when it exonerates Meghan, but they’re going to want to. That’s why AmyBee said that Meghan may release a statement on her own regardless.
Notice how the diversity tczar initiative/idea came and went for BP but they are still dragging Duchess Meghans character by stalling this ridiculous bullying investigation so KP and the tabloids can still use her for distraction stories. They really should wrap this all up and play nice because I do not see many feel good or positive news stories coming out of any of the royals left on that island anytime soon.
A week or so ago, someone posted a link to the Schillings website. Very interesting. Defending reputations is one of their major areas of expertise. Unless the RF completely backtracks, and publicly, I can’t imagine Meghan and her team will let this just drop off the radar without a statement of some kind, eventually. Jason and KP really poked the bear here, as they keep learning again and again.
What you say about the fact that not many people are being interviewed can be a bad thing, I think what came out of the people you’re cited being interviewed doesn’t amount to bullying from a legal standpoint so they can’t come out and say that. They will never put on paper that Meghan is innocent that why they’re between a rock and hard place.
@Woke, yup, I think this is the problem (problem for the Firm, not a problem for Meghan lol.)
Law firm interviews Jason Knauf, Jason says “and then she emailed me even though she knew I was in New Zealand and there was a huge time difference and she apologized for the timing but can you believe she still sent that email?!?!?The nerve of her!”
And then the ‘investigator’ is like uhhhh……so she got confused with time zones, emailed you, apologized, and asked you to get back to her when you could?
Jason – YES! Can you believe her!!!! What a bully!!!
That’s kind of what I think is happening and like you said, the palace is between a rock and a hard place because what can they do with that? Admit their staff is incompetent? Admit it was all a made-up smear campaign? They can’t say that they found evidence she was a bully because Meghan’s team will be all over that.
@Becks1: That’s exactly what it is. As a WOC, I can tell you how this went down because it has happened to me and my friends in our various industries.
Megan or other WOC: Hi Karen, if you have time today, could you please send out these invitations? We really need them to go out by the end of the week.
Staff member: OK. I’ll do that right away.
… a week later …
Megan/WOC: Hi Karen, have those invitations gone out yet? Ms. X says she hasn’t received hers.
Staff member: Not yet. I’ve been really busy with other things (or some other excuse)
Megan/WOC: I understand, but we really need those invitations to go out immediately now.
Staff member: OK
… two days later …
Megan/WOC: Karen, have you sent out the invitations?
Staff member: Not yet.
Megan/WOC: Karen, this is the third time I’ve asked. This needs to be done immediately. We are on a time crunch here.
Staff member to Jason: OMG, she’s a bully!!! (crocodile tears)
Sophie has been caught on camera shouting at her bodyguard. Anne is rude and blunt in PUBLIC so she’s probably the same or worse in private, especially towards staff. And I think we can all guess how Andrew is as a boss.
If results are released, it might inspire some staffers to speak out against their employees thinking *they’ll* get an investigation (if they haven’t realised this was just another attention to smear Meghan).
Isn’t Charles on record choking a staffer? Pedo has screamed at people; he also ran his car through a police arm at one of the palace entrances. They’re all bullies and &*^%$!!s
Not to mention Angela Kelly who has no behavior.
Where’s the diversity tsar?!!?!?!?
Bahahahaha, right?
Becks, I think you’ve called it. Now we can all sit and wait for the “investigation” to go away
“If they had a good story of Meghan telling someone off or yelling at someone for incompetence, we truly would have heard that story by now.”
Exactly. I also think that what information the law firm has doesn’t amount to bullying and so there’s no urgency to release the report. It was the Palace’s intention to drop the findings in the Sovereign Grant report but they were unable to do so because Meghan’s lawyers intervened. It could be that they’re waiting for next year’s Sovereign Grant to release the information.
They didnt want to take orders from a biracial American woman or didnt understand her work ethic. They should be ashamed either way.
@Noki: Prior to the Oprah interview Camilla Tominey wrote a piece saying that KP staff didn’t want to work with Meghan because she was an American actress. And I have no doubt that William and Kate used the staff to undermine Meghan. Whatever the outcome, I hope Meghan says what really happened during her time at KP.
To me, it reads Bill, KKKate and Chaz are now actively trying to place the blame on the firm they hired to do the investigation AND The Queen´s household.
This is not new. William just inherited Chaz M.O of blaming anyone but himself and, if things get very bad, throwing some family member under the bus. As nobody would dare throw TQ. they are throwing her secretary as a surrogate.
All this three years effort of smearing Meghan is really the Royal Family sturbonily telling the world they will not now, nor ever, apologise to this biracail woman.
Think of how many time and money they had spent into this campaign. They are stupid and evil. A terrible combination. All they had to do, once they drove them out, was to issue a statmente, apologising for any wrongdoing or oversight Sussexes had experinced while working with them, kindly asking the Press to leave them alone as they are no longer working royals AND MOVED ON.
But no.
It would be something if they are throwing the queen’s secretary Edward young under the bus considering it was Charles and Andrew who drove the coup that ousted her old secretary and instated Edward young in the first place.
Isn’t karma being extra delicious with this one?
They trying to get someone wiling to go on the record and actually make complaints with facts but they don’t know what Meghan have to defend herself so they are fearful. So they at the same time don’t want to formally say yes she is a bully and also don’t want to say she’s not that’s all it is about.
RE: WOKE- I think you’re 100% correct. I think they want SOMEONE, anyone who will go on the record against Meghan, and I think they’ve been trying to figure out what evidence Meghan probably has, so that they can concoct a “complaint” against her, supposedly made back in 2018, that she will not be able to refute. At least not with evidence.
They might be able to find someone who will go on record but what’s facts will they have?
God I hate these people, from the palaces to the press that covers them, disgusting, every last one of them.
I’m totally with you, they are all vile.
Next year on a late Friday afternoon we’ll hear how this has been addressed and handled internally, and there will be no further comment on it. They’ll also be some passive aggressive swipe about how being valued in the workplace and respected is very important, and how victims of bullying should feel free to come forward always. The RR’s will focus solely on the latter, and make up weeks worth of stories of what terrible things Meghan supposedly did.
This sounds about right!
That’s probably what will happen. They’ve made it clear that they are only investigating their internal processes for how staff complaints are handled. They will find that there are no official systems or procedures in place to review staff complaints against a principal. Several recommendations will be made for complaints handling. None will be implemented. This will be the one and only time the Palace will ever investigate claims of bullying, until such time another person of colour marries into the family.
Surely we know nothing will come of it but KP and BP are just hoping enough mud sticks. And sometimes it does, sadly.. Whatever the truth. I don’t think they expected the lawyers.
Aka the press is gearing up to say that the review was mismanaged when the firm publishes some vague HR recommendations that doesn’t comprehensively address these bullying allegations.
The firm doesn’t want a situation where Meghan’s lawyers could properly litigate the claims & clear her on this because it will likely show the claims were malicious & Meghan likely has proof of her own mistreatment. The firm and the press want the claims to linger.
We know that KP likes to project their own behaviour so my guess is KP was really nasty to Meghan (we saw with the nicknames& mean stories they leaked to the press -which incidentally suggests staff couldn’t have been that scared of her if they were happily leaking to the press) & thought she would discuss that on Oprah so went hard with the bullying smears. I think this behaviour is why Elizabeth & Charles allowed H&M to leave KP& set up under BP.
I think another issue is that Meghan and her lawyers aren’t just sitting back and letting the law firm handle it. They’re breathing down their necks and making sure it’s done well and right. Hence BP may be frustrated that they can’t half-ass this and why they can’t find many staff to speak out (maybe because the law firm realised that what the palace said was bullying either wasn’t or was a culture clash/incompetent staff hired solely because of their family and are unable to do their jobs at absolute worst.)
People do not become bullies overnight (even if they become a Duchess). There’s a pattern to it and it’s repeated. When the Ellen and Lea Michelle accusations came out, for Lea, it wasn’t just Glee cast and crew speaking out. Others who worked with her on Broadway said the same thing. With Ellen, multiple staffers said similar things and her personality was long hinted and talked about anyways.
With Meghan, there’s virtually zero complaints from anybody who worked as Suits cast or crew. And even as a Duchess, her staff under BP don’t seem to have an issue with her as they’ve never complained.
Exactly. They can’t sweep this under the rug. Meghan’s lawyers are on their asses and won’t accept anything less than complete transparency and a right to publicly respond. And if these f***RRs try to twist ANYTHING, they know Meghan’s lawyers will light their asses up.
They really never imagined a fully functioning, competent adult, much less WOC, would marry into this family and not toe their horrific line. This all boils down to a lack of imagination. They never considered anyone would just say “hell, no” and bow out. The fact that it was Harry who pulled the plug was completely out of their realm of possibility.
So when is there going to be an internal inquiry of Andrew?
I think it’s too late: vindictive little morons it is.
Word.
Is it the palace aides or the Daily Fail that is worried abou running low on material for their front page?
This is a tricky needle to thread for the law firm and BP, because no matter what the “findings” end up being ( and I assume if they painted Meghan in a bad light, we would have heard by now), the muddled workings of KP will end up being exposed.
It never fails to astonish me that what they deem the “original complaint” against Meg was built around Jason Knauf emailing William’s aide and relaying things he had heard about Meghan. At no point did anyone actually contact HR, and the two employees who had talked to Knauf didn’t want to get involved. My guess is they were happy to talk sh*t about Meghan behind her back about how she undermined their confidence, but not about to put their names on it. It calls into question the professional working environment of KP, is what I’m saying. Because in order to establish that Meghan was a bully and made unreasonable demands, they are going to have to go into exactly how much (or how little) they are normally expected to do.
So much of the bullying case now revolves around Jason, who recently contributed a selection of Meghan’s private texts and emails to the DMs court case, and who somehow STILL very much works alongside William and Kate. Awkward questions might be asked about exactly why and how Jason was allowed to release this information while, again, he still works for William and Kate.
Finally, it does look fishy that the palace has never before opened up an HR file on any of their members (including Andrew, remember). Nope, just Meghan, more than a year after she left. Seriously, an organization that includes three palaces worth of admin staff and this is their very first HR investigation? Really?
@Jay
Well. The first we peasants have ever heard of it. They may have had an HR investigation before, but as with everything else with these folk, it was tightly controlled.
Trouble everywhere and problems galore, but let’s only focus on the meanie biracial American (which was worse? Biracial or American or both?) Duchess, who was simply trying to do a good job for her adopted country and make a difference
Could’ve had the baddest bitch ever. But nope.
Very true! We wouldn’t hear about most hr moves. But the article uses the fact that the Palace has “never before had to deal with an official bullying complaint against a member of the royal family” as a possible reason why things are proceeding so slowly.
I think they are trying to emphasize that Meghan’s bullying was just so terrible that they have to come up with a new procedure for how to address it. Again, I think most civil service and NGOs would have had to have a system in place long ago to address bullying within the workplace, and the fact that they don’t seem to have had one as late as 2018, because they didn’t feel they needed one, tells us a lot.
I think of it like the police force of any city saying they have done a great job because there hasn’t been any crime that year. We would laugh in their faces, right? And assume that either they were patently corrupt or patently incompetent.
@ Jay
100% everything you said.
My own take is “we know they know how awful we are, but nonono lets pretend this has never ever happened before in the history of us and we are shocked, shocked I say at all of this”
Nah. Y’all just got yours in a twist because Madame Duchess pulled back the curtains on y’alls shenanigans and now the curtains can’t be closed no matter how hard y’all yank on them.
So the investigation will have taken longer than Meghan was ever under KP? That makes absolutely no sense. They messed up by calling her a bully. It’s hard to refute claims that you’re a bad boss or difficult to work with, but as Meghan’s lawyer explained, bullying has an explicit definition and more severe connotations. At the least, I hope they will have to clarify that she did not bully staff.
A few months ago, several RRs were openly suggesting that Meghan should fall on the sword to save the Royals by releasing a statement blaming her bullying on being pregnant but Meghan said “nope”.
They were looking for a way out of this mess they created since this summer.
If this is true, these RR clowns are really crazy and desperate.
“Slow-walked” by whom? All we know from this is nobody knows anything. And who has fears? The piece doesn’t say that palace aides have fears. It sounds to me like the DM thinks the review is being “slow-walked” and the DM fears it won’t have another juicy Meghan story any time soon.
So they are saying it’s slow because BP has no expertise in the matter? So the firm they hired didn’t have expertise either? So why hire them? The article is full of contradictions. And, IF Meghan had ever done anything via e-mail or text, you know it would have been leaked by now or Knauf would have found a way to volunteer it for the court case. IF Meghan had done anything the staff would have felt free to video or record on their phones, knowing that it was okay with Will to make claims against her. They have nothing and are desperately trying to find a way to make it go away or produce some small shred of evidence of something they can twist to justify their claims. I’m sure H&M don’t want to bring an actual lawsuit against KP but I wouldn’t accept less than a public apology and being cleared.
The Meghan is a bully headlines went around the world and seriously damaged her reputation. I’m thinking about the fact that Harry said out loud that he found Meghan crying in her bed over the allegations which does begin to establish her pain and suffering over this smear. (I don’t think normally private Harry would release that fact unless he had a purpose for doing so.) This was defamation and once Schillings gets the report of the investigation in hand then the demands for reparation will begin. The Royals’ law firm is clearly stalling, most likely under William’s refusal to publicly back down on the claim in any way. I’m thinking a law suit is next if the Royals don’t bend.
Yup. And they’re going to continue to stall and waffle because they KNOW Meghan is sitting on a treasure trove of information that she WILL unleash if they don’t put an end to this kangaroo court and admit it’s a sham. This is clearly Jason’s work on behalf of William, and Meghan is in a position where she could sue for libel because he made an utterly false and defamatory claim of bullying that harmed her reputation. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
^^ @Nutrition_geek, Meghan doesn’t have to do anything now, but continue taking care of herself and her family, and being a bada$$, brilliant and beautiful woman, living her best life! Meg is not even close to being a bully, as we all know. She’s a glorious, funny, loving, compassionate, remarkable human being, and a role model for so many people.
Meghan’s attorneys are on this, we best believe that reality. The ball is, at the moment, firmly in the firm’s court. And they is def feeling the pressure. LOL! Karma gonna come for all the Salty, Petty, Lying Bitters, and it won’t be pretty. And they won’t be able to call a ‘time-out,’ nor a ‘slow walking, nothing-to-see-here fade-out,’ while slyly and blatantly continuing their smearing attacks.
BRF was so incompetente, their whole live were to be a masscot and not even a good one too.
I think this is the royal reporters warning KP. They know smearing the duchess gets clicks but they also are warning the remaining Royals that they were promised red meat and it’s now time to deliver.
She is right to take this seriously and demand a full report.
I would even bet that there will be a lawsuit eventually because they did not bring this to her or her lawyers, they took it to the Times.
When your reputation is your existence, she has every right to see this through to the end.
‘ Now Becky English at the Daily Mail has some interesting news: “aides” are worried that the review is being half-assed and slow-walked?’
It is another open attack on Meghan. As if poor widdle KP staff are claiming the BP investigation is covering up (fake) abuse by Meghan. It all reads like another William hissy fit, because BP took the power of this investigation away from him. He wanted staff to fake up a bunch of things against Meghan, swear to it under oath, and destroy her reputation on a global stage.
BP taking away the investigation has William incandescent with rage. Coupled with Meghan’s legal team demanding to see everything so they can clear her name? William is impotent and filled with rage, so he’s leaking the angle that BP is covering it all up. Same with the latest iteration of Kate’s lies about crying. Now she’s claiming she cried because Meghan was abusing staff. The investigation, and Schillings breathing down their necks for facts, has W&K&Knauf scrambling.
This has Jason’s dirty little fingers all over it. I think Meghan and Harry are sitting back and actually enjoying watching while he and William desperately try to come up with new angles to cover their tracks. Once they’re backed into a corner the Sussexes will drop a libel lawsuit on them and watch them squirm. William and Jason effed with the wrong people, they will not win this war.
They need to be careful because Meghan will bring a defamation suit against them if they misrepresent the conclusions of the third party law firm.
I think the Palace is scared of what Meghan will do. The households have seen the Fail get its @$$ handed to it by Meghan and her lawyers in court – twice. If Meghan is not afraid to go to the mattresses on DM, especially with her father in the mix, she’s not àfraid to take it to KP and the court. The lawsuit show the judges are not automatically in the tank for the Crown.
Jason Knaufoo tried and failed twice to get Meg’s case against MoS overturned. What credibility does this snake have when he was pretending to be a loyal staff member to Meghan whilst hovering up material to use against her? He was the toxic work colleague throwing her to the tabloid wolves, why would anybody believe him apart from W and K when they toasted larvae together?
I have a toxic co-worker that went around saying I bullied her. She went to our manager and told her how I bullied her in a meeting. Except she forgot that same manager was in the same meeting and told her I never said any of the things to her. I think she was trying to get me fired thinking it would give her more job security since our roles are the same. I just avoid her now.
This story really grinds my gears. I know what it’s like to be falsely accused. And good for Meghan for forcing their hands to show how they lied about her.
Reading between the lines, this investigation isn’t really about the bullying at all.
“There are obviously serious questions to be asked as to how the original complaints about bullying made against the duchess were handled internally.”
This says how the complaints were handled. Not the complaint itself. It sounds to me like BP was not pleased with the bullying accusations because of Knauf’s incompetence in passing on complaints that were not real (the complainants rescinded the complaints). That’s what they are investigating and why only certain people are being interviewed.
My theory is this will result in a finding that says Jason goofed up and say nothing about Meg being a bully. Because there’s nothing to say and they’re not even looking at that.
Meanwhile, William and other haters in the RR are laying groundwork to say this doesn’t exonerate Meg, cause they’re well aware it will exonerate her, as it’s not even about her, but HR procedure.
Tinfoil tiara theory: If anyone has slow walked this investigation, my bet is on KP. Meghan’s solicitors have already demanded insight into the evidence against her, and probably also access to the presumably stored documents/e-mails with/regarding Meghan. KP has probably made up an BS excuse for not giving them full access; the documents/e-mail are deleted and no longer stored on the server, protection of staff and other members of the RF etc.
When Knauf handed the work e-mails over to the press, to support a case against Meghan, they could no longer use their BS excuses not to give Meghans solicitors full access. KP already knew damn well, the only bullying going on wad the bullying OF Meghan, not BY Meghan, and full access to their e-mail shows that in full. I’d guess Meghans solicitors were on them like blood hounds after Knauf gave the press the e-mails and have hopefully gotten all documents/e-mails regarding Meghan.
These documents/e-mails were handed over to the law firm doing the investigation, and that firm has given the RF a heads-up on the deep shit Willnot and KP have caused. If an independant report is written it would not look good for the RF. I think the brainiacs in the RF have cookex up a plan to save face. ” Blame” the law firm for being slow, while the RF buries the report deep in a dungeon somewhere, and never speak of it again. They look “good”, and Meghan will have the bullying accusations hanging over her forever. Thinking ones again that H&M won’t do any more to clear her name.
I have seen this modus operandi so many times with British institutions. This is the UK version of Homer Simpson backing himself into the bushes and hoping no one is noticing.
My reading of the situation is as follows.
1. The original ‘allegations’ (note the parenthesis here) were likely mere bluster and gossip whipped into a frenzy by the tabs to provide a whole new portfolio of future fake stories in the same vein of Meghan make Kate cry sh!t-show of clownery. So basically, the original complaints were flawed and very shaky at best.
2. These allegations were never supposed to make it to trial. I suspect that the Fail forced the palaces hands when they reported on them based on information that again Knauf may have presented to them. They expected the results of this ‘investigation’ to be buried amongst the lies of the legal case, once the MoS had WON or succeeded in defending Meg’s action. Which again tends to show that BP, CH and KP have always been working in concert with the MoS.
3. A feature of all the communications I am noticing between Meg and the BRF (and now even Harry), is that there is an expectation that Team Sussex just take it on the chin and not defend themselves via statements or legal action as that ‘just isn’t the done thing’. I think they now realise that will never fly.
4. Now that the MoS have lost their action and the ruling clearly states that any further appeals will likely fail because the MoS failed to make any sort of case the BRF are also on the back foot. So pursuing a flawed action would just tend to make them look petty, vindictive and show that THEY are actually bullying her. And that makes them look terrible in any court or tribunal as it is a maxim of English law that ‘those who come to equity must come with clean hands’.
5. I also suspect that elements of the bullying allegations are also heavily linked to facts made public during the Privacy action or other pertinent facts that would tend to show that the MoS and the BRF worked in concert. The BRF would now seek to distance themselves from the machinations of the MoS as Jason Knauf attempted to do when it was clear his neck was on the line.
6. The hope was that running the bullying allegations alongside the appeal would blindside Meghan. Accusing someone of things they have not done will always cause a person to become upset and it is when we’re upset that we make missteps. Accusing a mixed-race American woman of bullying her white English Rose SIL and white aristocratic staffers, is as close to misogynoir you can get on the misogynoir scale. It’s an attack on everything she represents and brings out the worst in all the far-right commentators, which has the effect of muddying the waters and causing a lot of distress to Meghan. I also suspect that the tribunal would have revealed the racism, sexism, classism and xenophobia to which Meghan was subjected. I am guessing she will hint to this in her statement when the case is over and they will have no defence bc it’s the truth.
7. I also suspect that there is a very real prospect that some of the complaints were essentially made up. After having told so many lies, I suspect that Jason Knauf himself likely is unable to discern fact from fiction and heavily believes in his own press. Further in his own role as ‘fixer’ there are likely a lot of dead bodies which he cannot discuss in public. Trial was always a risky option for these guys as it puts their business in the public domain. And when the political winds shift in a few years the BRF will be skewered for the hate campaign they waged against Meghan.
8. I am also guessing that the original complainants (who were likely strong-armed into this mess) now want nothing to do with it as (1) the penalties for perjury in the UK are not funny i.e. prison and (2) Meghan would not hesitate to joinder them in any action and sue their very shallow pockets. If you want a primer in how the system works in the UK search twitter for the many journalists and far right pundits who have been left ruined and bankrupted in similar circumstances.
Monieinthemiddle, the mysogynoir is galling. They think that they can shake her, lol. Yes, she was suicidal when she was pregnant, but Harry already knew how they were, so he was ready to get them out.
The plant about how the staff is fearful that this is getting buried just sounds like whoever is talking just can’t accept that the Black woman is not being put into her place regardless of if it is coming from the staff she directly worked with or from on high.
Meghan grew up near where I grew up. She is accustomed to racism. It is scary. It is also something that you learn to fight when you cannot pass for White. You HAVE TO fight it any way you can. Some of us pass to be safe, but can you REALLY feel safe if the people around you don’t accept who you really are? Saltine Isle thought that she hated herself enough to view them as superior. It is simply not possible for her to ever view them that way. Ever. She grew up loving her Black self in a predominantly Black community.
The MoS and the BRF do not understand her or the love she and Harry share. She isn’t going to lose because she is living on the right side of history. It is not possible for her to live any other way.
When Knauf released selected texts to make her look awful, her full texts revealed the nuances of being the target of a malignant narcissist, her father. It made you feel for her. That’s how she rolls. It is who she is. She doesn’t need to do what they want, and she never will. When you come from people who are routinely targeted for death, and you actually see it and see the destruction from it, and you have the tools and support to fight, you don’t need false grandeur. She happens to be awesome, and she clearly appreciates her place in history. Harry needed a woman who could hold herself with dignity through it all, and she does.
Everything you wrote rings true, Monie. And she is not going to crumble.
Great explanation. I live for the day when Knauf is exposed as the back-stabbing weasel he truly is and he brings down William with him.
+1
All I say is that the matter better be resolved before W&K bring their Earthshot to US shores because if not I know one question that will be on every reporter’s tongue at every appearance.
I see the palace/royals have maneuvered themselves into a hopeless checkmate position in their smeargame against Meghan. This is how I connect the dots:
To me this article in the DM hints at an invisible deal between Rothermere (owner DM) and the palace/royal family: 1) that his lawyers would receive ‘crucial evidence’ from the palace to win his appeal lawsuit against Meghan (Meghan’s emails were handed over by Jason) and probably 2) that he would receive an internal palace-report with ‘proof’ that Meghan ‘bullied’ staff (allegations revealed by Jason) as soon as he would win the appeal.
Luckily he failed miserably and lost the appeal case. Now he accuses the palace/royals of deliberately slowing down the internal report release, so he can’t smear Meghan with it to recoup the losses from his failed lawsuit. This plot between press and royals was to damage Meghan’s reputation irreparably and it’s no coincidence why Meghan explicitly named Rothermere in her winning statement. She knows about this plot.
Four royals are complicit: 1) W&K who still employ Jason Knauf and openly showed their support for him during their engagements (see Earthshot). They needed Jason till December to do their dirty work against Meghan, hoping that he would succeed. 2) C&C openly supported the DM this summer with exclusive articles despite the DM’s ungoing smearing of H&M on a daily basis. Even Carole Middleton weighed in with her own article in the DM.
There is no way that the royal heirs can come back from this unharmed: 1) Meghan won twice, so the heirs and the palace look very incompetent. 2) Rothermere already sent William a warning with that 7:30 am paparazzi car photo, signaling that he’s willing to target Will’s secrets next (blackmail). 3) Charles is forever stuck in his cash-for-title scandal and looks increasingly un-kingly.
What 7:30 am paparazzi car photo? When?
7:30 p.m. I believe
I stand corrected! He left 7:30 pm. It was a solo engagement.
@TheOtherOne, this occurred a few weeks ago when William attended a charity event at a private club without Kate and a picture of him leaving with a mysterious woman was published in the papers. Here’s the link if you haven’t seen it:
https://www.celebitchy.com/743271/prince_william_went_to_an_exclusive_private_club_last_week_for_a_charity_event/
Meghan’s lawyers could sue the law firm for false allegations if they refuse to clear her name. Maybe the palace can bury stuff but able firm cannot.
I have worked in the Personnel Dept. of a significant corporation and served as the union representative for more than 15 years. I imagine the “HR” Department within the Royal Institution operates like a Mom and Pop store. The fact that they have less than 1% diversity in the above domestic positions says it all.
No one will convince me that a woman of color at 35 walked into an all-white institution and started barking. Resentment and disrespect met her at the door; she’s been there and done that before.
Before Meghan joined that Klan, W&K was not high profile; they were parenting, spending most of their time in the countryside. Harry was the young visible royal – Invictus Games, the Marathon, Sentable, trips to the Commonwealth, etc. I believe to this day, Harry is the creator of Heads Together. During the engagement interview, he stated there was a lot of work to be done, and he believed Meghan would be incredible for the job. Interpretation: no one was working. Meghan enters with a work ethic no one in that Klan is accustomed to and the whining, complaining, and backstabbing began.
Jason’s job was to be William’s “yes” man. I doubt there is written documentation of the allegations or details of his meetings with Meghan to discuss the allegations. They expected Meghan to buck and bow. William was under the impression she wanted to be a part of the Royal Klan by any means necessary – WRONG. What is happening at KP now is a severe cleanup on Aisle 13. This is why we see the weak attempt to humanize Will and Kate. Jason is scheduled to leave at the end of the year. The files will disappear, and the case will close due to a lack of documentation Trust and believe, Meghan will tell her side of the story. Like the revelations of the Oprah interview, they will call her a liar, but the RF behavior will prove her right. She now refers to them as her husband’s family. The only thing that restrains her is her love and respect for Harry. Whatever they do, they do as a team, and I don’t think she will upstage his memoir.
I think this story is a warning shot to the palaces. ANL suffered big losses and they are waiting on the judges for the final total. Instead of a big cash payout, Lord Rothermere calls William to tell him the settlement is a payment AND an exposé that Bully-gate is a sham. Rothermere has the original complaints ready to go on his platform saying they were pressured to make claims that Meghan is a bully by Jason WITH William’s blessing (and backed up with their emails) US legitimate media will run that story. BP and CH have to be livid about this mess. Jason is being prepped to be thrown under the bus.
Bully-gate is a sham-at least on Meghan being a bully. It was The Times (Murdoch’s paper) Valentine Low that Knauf gave the initial story to though. The Times never shared a copy of Knauf’s supposed email to Simon Case (that I’ve seen), it was based on his word. big LOL The DM doctored up a funky looking email that was minus of any exact date and time stamps. No reply from Simon Case was shared either. The statement from Madame Duchess from the Times story was pretty much let’s call it what it is a ‘smear campaign’. KP/Knauf/W&K were very afraid of what might have been exposed in the Oprah interview.
It’s not being ‘slow-walked’.imo It just has never happened because it was b*llshit to begin with.imo To this day, we do not know the name of the independent law firm. Why is that? W&K are being protected from their a$$holery. You know Janina would love to share what she knows, with receipts. This ‘slow-walked’ story is essentially the same response from the chef of the Bros Italy restaurant review from a different CB post, “What is a man on a horse?.”. A lot of word/popcorn salad.
The privacy/copyright suit is/was separate from the “bullying” buffoonery. The RR’s are disgusting with both. LOL @ Levin anytime she writes about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and privacy. Levin claims to have a husband and three sons. Yet, there is no information out there about them (yea I looked). Is Levin trying to hide something? Is she lying? Or, is she just trying to keep her personal life separate from her “professional” life and maintaining some control over her right to privacy as a public figure that’s written books, gone on tv and radio to talk about the Sussexes personal lives? If I were on twitterverse, I’d ask her, who the f*ck are you to bleat about Sussexes when you’re doing the same effing thing? Especially when Levin’s bs claim to fame(outside of Max Clifford) was based on a lie about “accompanying” Harry to events and having an unrecorded/not video taped interview with Prince Harry.
What? BRF trying to blaim the company that handling this case.
Hmmm what happen if the lawyers snap because the brf wanted to make them the scapegoat?
Kate should be afraid, because she will be witness when meghan wants to sue. Isn’t one of the reason kate’s cry because meghan bullied her staff?