Meghan Markle denies leaving staff traumatised, according to BBC documentary The Princes and the Press
The Duchess of Sussex has hit back at shocking claims that she bullied staff to the point some were left psychologically traumatised.
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Meghan Markle’s lawyer has denied claims the Duchess left staff so terrified that they “shook” – and that she left her aides “psychologically traumatised”.
The bullying claims, which the Duchess of Sussex has denied and are the subject of an ongoing inquiry at Buckingham Palace, emerged just days before Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In BBC’s controversial new documentary The Princes And The Press, which aired on Tuesday night, the first part focused heavily on Harry and Meghan quitting the royal family and The Sun’s explosive Megxit revelations.
The Times’ royal correspondent Valentine Low, who broke the story of bullying claims, told presenter Amol Rajan: “These people, I know, two and a half years later, when I’m writing this story — some of them were in tears.
“They were still severely psychologically traumatised. So, something went badly wrong.”
The Sussexes’ former communications chief, Jason Knauf, made the revelations at the time after reportedly complaining about the treatment of three female colleagues he claimed had been driven out of the royal household by the duchess.
The royal aide now works for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
But the Sussexes’ lawyer Jenny Afia told the documentary that the bullying story was untrue and had “massive inconsistencies”.
However, she admitted the claims were difficult to refute.
“There were massive inaccuracies in that story. It’s hard to prove a negative. If you haven’t bullied someone, how do you show you haven’t?,” she said.
Lawyers for the royals were reportedly on standby to take action against the BBC for “unfounded” claims made in the controversial documentary.
It is also believed that the Queen, William and Kate Middleton are considering cutting off the BBC forever.
The three senior royals, together with Prince Charles and Camilla, have already issued a joint statement blasting bosses for airing “overblown and unfounded claims” by contributors.
And the Cambridges have even taken the step of banning the national broadcaster from screening their Christmas carol concert, instead handing the rights to ITV.
According to The Sun, there was also Palace anger that Meghan arranged for her lawyer to appear on the BBC documentary and answer questions on her behalf.
She was the only member from the royal family to take part — raising the possibility the BBC she was made aware what was going to be in the documentary while leaving the rest of the royals in the dark.
The second part of the documentary has been titled ‘Sussexit’ – after Harry claimed the term ‘Megxit’ was a “misogynistic term” that was “created by a troll [and] amplified by royal correspondents”.
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