The Palace has come under fire over its decision not to make public the results of an investigation into allegations of Meghan Markle “bullying” staff after one of her former aide’s finally spoke out.
After years of silence, longtime senior royal staffer Samantha Cohen gave a wide-ranging interview to the Herald Sun recently, in which she confirmed that she was one of 10 royal employees who had been interviewed during the process.
Meghan has firmly denied the allegations levelled at her.
The new revelation – which is one of the first concrete details to emerge about the closed investigation – made global headlines, and royal biographer and journalist Tom Bower has now warned that this is likely to just mark the beginning.
“It is hugely unfortunate that the bullying complaints have resulted in no resolution either way,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.
“To date, the palace lawyer’s investigation remains under lock and key, a situation which is hard on the accusers – and unfair to the accused.
“ … Now, finally, that dam has been breached – and I have no doubt that more will now emerge. The trickle of information will, soon enough, become a stream.”
Mr Bower went on to point out that details surfacing in this manner was “unsatisfactory” as the results of the investigation were supposed to be made public.
“That’s not to prejudge the matter or say what the verdict will be. But it’s very much to the Palace’s discredit that, whatever truth we arrive at, it should have to emerge in this painful and unsatisfactory way,” he wrote.
In her first interview since stepping away from royal employment, Ms Cohen also alluded to Prince Harry and Meghan’s well-documented high staff turnover.
“I was only supposed to stay for six months but stayed for 18 – we couldn’t find a replacement for me and when we did we took them on tour to Africa with Harry and Meghan to show them the ropes but they left (quit) as well while in Africa,” she told the Herald Sun.
Ms Cohen, who served as Queen Elizabeth’s press secretary for 17 years and then as her assistant and private secretary, last worked within the palace for Harry and Meghan before quitting royal service in 2019.
It was alleged in Valentine Low’s book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, published in 2022, that Ms Cohen had been “treated harshly” and “screamed at” by the pair, describing the role as like “working with teenagers”.
Meanwhile, the results of the investigation, which was revealed just days ahead of Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, were never made public.
Representatives for the Duchess of Sussex hit back at the time, declaring the allegations were “being used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative based on misleading and harmful misinformation.”