Meghan Markle reportedly claims she was ‘cleared’ in bullying investigation, despite palace’s silence

Someone said to be speaking for Meghan Markle said Thursday she had been “cleared” of bullying allegations by Buckingham Palace, even though the palace has said no such thing publicly and has vowed to keep the conclusions of its 15-month investigation under wraps.

The assertions that Meghan was “cleared from the defamatory claims” were made to Us Weekly. They come as the Telegraph in the U.K. reported that she and Prince Harry would make “no public comment” on the report, which looked into allegations that the American bullied staff in 2018 when she was still a working member of the royal family.

The Telegraph said that this “unusual silence” from both the palace and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex indicate that both parties, who work closely with lawyers, are moving to downplay the report and the allegations in order to heal the rift between the royal family and the couple.

Meghan strongly and publicly denied the allegations when they first emerged in a Times UK report in March 2021. Her team issued a stinging statement, calling the Times report a “calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.”

While the Telegraph said the Sussexes won’t make a “public statement,” it appears that the couple’s publicists are trying to affirm Meghan’s denials by letting someone representing her talk to Us Weekly as an anonymous source.

“Meghan is a fair boss and never bullied anyone who worked for her at the Palace in the first place,” the source said told Us Weekly. “She’s happy that her name has been cleared from the defamatory claims. She and Harry are looking forward to putting the incident behind them and are happily moving on with their lives in Montecito.”

If Meghan has shared her thoughts via unnamed sources, she is playing by the royal family’s PR rulebook. The palace regularly uses anonymous briefings with the media, and has been doing so over the course of the bullying investigation.

The original Times report was based on anonymous sources that included several current and former employees who said they were bullied by the former TV actress. One former employee, who was not identified in the story, told the Times they had been personally “humiliated” by Meghan, while another aide said her behavior was “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I guess could also be called bullying.”

On Wednesday, a royal source told the media that the report’s findings would not be publicly disclosed, but that it led to recommendations for the better handling of staff complaints about “inappropriate” workplace behavior.  The report also led to a new policy that sets out how staffers can express a concern or “blow the whistle” on inappropriate behavior by members of the royal family.

Meanwhile, those who shared their experiences about working for Meghan weren’t told whether their allegations were affirmed, only that the investigation was concluded and that internal “policies and procedures” would be changed as a result, the Telegraph reported.

The efforts by the palace to downplay the report has led to complaints that it was being “buried,” as well as speculation about why its findings won’t be released.

Meghan’s supporters say that Buckingham Palace doesn’t want to publicly admit that the investigation didn’t find any truth to the allegations. They’ve always been suspicious of the original Times report, coming out a few days ahead of Meghan and Harry’s bombshell, tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. The timing has buoyed concerns that the palace publicized the allegations to undermine the duchess’ credibility.

On Wednesday, the Sussexes, via an insider talking to Us Weekly, let it be known that they were “disappointed that the results (of the investigation) will not be shared.” Perhaps the couple were “disappointed” because the findings were favorable for Meghan.

Other royal observers said that the palace may have learned that the duchess acted inappropriately, but suggested that the queen doesn’t want those conclusions released because she doesn’t want to further antagonize her grandson and his wife.

Royal expert expert Katie Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight that the queen “doesn’t want any more drama. She just doesn’t want any more dirty linens aired in public.”

The royal family reportedly is concerned about what Harry will say about them in his upcoming memoir and what might be revealed in a Netflix documentary they have been filming about their life in California.

Tensions between the royal family and the Sussexes were said to have eased somewhat when the couple traveled from California earlier this month to attend some of the celebrations for the queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the Telegraph said. The couple fulfilled their promise of “sticking to the script” and maintaining a low profile during the celebrations, the Telegraph reported. While in the UK, they reportedly introduced their 1-year-old daughter, Lilibet, to the queen and Prince Charles for the first time.