The palace is investigating the wrong royal, author claims

Buckingham Palace has launched an investigation into claims Meghan bullied staff. But they should be investigating a different royal.

One author believes the wrong royal is being investigated by Buckingham Palace.

On March 2, The Times in the UK alleged that Meghan Markle drove out two personal assistants and left staff feeling “humiliated” during her time as a working royal. The Duchess of Sussex’s team strongly refuted the allegations.

Then on March 3, Buckingham Palace said it was “clearly very concerned” about the allegations, and that the palace human resources team “will look into the circumstances outlined in the article” and would seek to speak to current and former staff.

But Leslie Carroll, who chronicled Markle and Prince Harry’s romance in her 2018 book, American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, said all eyes should be on Prince Andrew instead.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Picture: Duncan McGlynn/Getty Images

She pointed out how Harry, 36, had to give up his honorary military titles when the palace announced the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t return as working royals. However, Andrew, 61, who has been accused of having sex with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, still has his titles.

“Andrew has been consistently coddled and protected by the palace while Harry has been hung out to dry,” Carroll told Fox News. “What’s Harry’s crime? Harry moved his family out of an abusive and toxic situation to protect them.

“Harry, who stated numerous times that he stepped back from his royal duties to protect his wife and baby from a toxic environment, had his honorary military titles stripped from him and is not even permitted to wear those uniforms after 10 years of military service and literally risking his life in Afghanistan,” Carroll said.

“But Prince Andrew … remains under the Queen’s protection and has not been stripped of his military titles,” she claimed. “A double standard is being applied to Harry.”

Prosecutors in New York have wanted to speak with Andrew for several months as part of their examination of allegations, made by several women, that some of Epstein’s staff and his girlfriend helped recruit underage sex partners for him.

The Prince has denied all allegations against him.

RELATED: The latest on Prince Andrew’s scandals

Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew were pals.

One of the women who has made claims against the Prince, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, alleged Epstein arranged for her to have sex with several rich or notable men, including Andrew. Ms Giuffre claimed she had sex with the Prince three times – in London and at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and in the US Virgin Islands when she was about 18.

Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently in prison awaiting trial over charges including transporting a minor for the purposes of criminal sexual activity, and conspiring to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, reportedly introduced Epstein to the Duke of York in 1999, The Telegraph reported.

Maxwell has denied all the charges against her.

In November 2019, Andrew, whose older brother Prince Charles is heir to the throne, denied those allegations but said he would “help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required.”

Andrew has since quit his public duties.

Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell are pictured together inside the London Mews home of Ghislaine Maxwell (right). Picture: Screengrab / Channel 9 / 60 Minutes

RELATED: Meghan and Harry’s Australia tour key to alleged bullying row

In June 2020, the Prince’s lawyers said he had offered three times to give information to investigators, though on a condition that his statements be made confidential. The US attorney in Manhattan at the time, Geoffrey S. Berman, countered that Andrew’s lawyers were misleading the public about his willingness to co-operate.

US prosecutors reportedly made a formal request through the British government to interview Andrew.

Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said she “would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us”.

The US Department of Justice and Ms Strauss didn’t immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. In 2020, a spokesman for the DOJ told Fox News: “As a matter of policy, the US Department of Justice does not publicly comment on communications with foreign governments on investigative matters, including confirming or denying the very existence of such communications.”

A rep for Andrew told Fox News they had no comment.

“I’m afraid we simply cannot comment on the legal process as any communications would be covered by the DOJ’s own confidentiality rules, which we have always observed,” the spokesman added.

Ms Giuffre, now 37, has since founded Victims Refuse Silence, which aims to create an online community supporting victims of human trafficking. A rep didn’t immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

Members of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 2019. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

This article originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission