Why Palace Never Released Findings of Meghan's Bullying Probe — Hint: It Involved Andrew
In 2021, Buckingham Palace launched an investigation into Meghan Markle's alleged poor treatment of staff, that was never made public.
By 2020, the royal family was grappling with two of its most damaging crises: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, followed by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit from the Firm. Amid the turmoil, the Palace also launched an investigation into Markle's alleged poor treatment of Kensington Palace staff, which they never made public. Commenting on the same, royal author Andrew Lownie claimed that the findings were never released as officials feared it would invite scrutiny over Mountbatten-Windsor's own behavior with staff.
In his book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, Lownie wrote, "The [bullying] report on Markle has never been released, some say because it would also raise questions about the behavior of the Queen's second son." He penned that after multiple people levied accusations of bullying against the Duchess, Buckingham Palace "braced itself for historic complaints about the Duke's bullying, profanities, and impossible demands." Interestingly, he alleged that Mountbatten-Windsor's poor behavior with staff was well known among royal circles, and even to the late Queen Elizabeth.
The royal author claimed Mountbatten-Windsor's crass behavior included him regularly berating and demeaning his employees. "A former aide had been reduced to tears after being 'bawled at' in a phone call before dawn because Andrew was unhappy with a story in The Sun newspaper." He continued, "One member of staff was moved to other duties because Andrew disliked a mole on the man's face, another'because the man was wearing a nylon tie." On a separate occasion, an aide claimed Mountbatten-Windsor abused a staff member for using the wrong title when addressing the Queen Mother.
Much like Lownie, former royal butler Grant Harrold has also stressed that Mountbatten-Windsor was allegedly cold towards his aides. According to the Daily Express, he recalled, "The character that I remember, unfortunately, was never rude to me, but he was quite kind of dismissive because I was there as a butler. He was the only royal I never had any kind of conversation with." As for why he was least bothered to interact with his employees, the former butler said, "Because you were staff, he wouldn't speak to you; he was always very... dismissive."
As for Markle's bullying probe, longtime former royal aide Jason Knauf first filed a formal complaint in 2018 about her allegedly bullying staff. His claims resurfaced in 2021, just as Markle and Harry were preparing for their highly-publicized Oprah Winfrey interview. As reported by The Times, he alleged, "The Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year," and was 'seeking to undermine' the confidence of a third employee. His scathing allegations had Buckingham Palace informing its aides of new rules, which included a robust approach that would allow them to file complaints without fear.
