A royal expert has claimed that Prince William may have approved the leak of bullying allegations against Meghan Markle by Kensington Palace aides.
According to royal watcher Charlotte Griffiths, when William saw that the Queen’s strategy of “smoothing things out” with the Sussexes was not working, he decided to try a more aggressive approach.
William allegedly tried to beat the Sussexes “at their own game” by allowing Kensington Palace to leak bullying allegations against Meghan Markle.
The Times published a story about the bullying allegations days before Meghan and Harry’s controversial tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
“Maybe William had felt that the smoothing over hadn’t been working for quite a long time at that point and decisive action was needed,” Griffiths said, according to Express. “Maybe he thought ‘I’m going to play them at their own game.'”
“The smoothing over that the Queen had been doing very diligently from the moment Meghan came on the scene just wasn’t paying off at all,” the royal watcher continued. “So maybe he thought he’d try a different [tactic].”
Meghan broke down in tears when the bullying allegations were leaked
Prince Harry later revealed on his Apple TV+ mental health series, The Me You Can’t See, that Meghan broke down in tears when the bullying allegations were leaked days before the Oprah interview in March.
According to Harry, Meghan was upset because she believed the allegations were part of efforts by the “Firm and media to smear her.”
“I was woken up in the middle of the night to her crying in her pillow because she doesn’t want to wake me up because I’m already carrying too much,” Harry said. “I held her, we talked, she cried, and she cried, and she cried.”
The Times reported that in October 2018, Jason Knauf, a former press secretary of the Sussexes, sent an email to Buckingham Palace HR, alleging that Meghan mistreated royal staff and forced some of them to leave their jobs.
Meghan vehemently denied the allegation, and it sparked a row between Harry and William. The row led to a split between the Cambridges and the Sussexes.
Harry and William’s feud is not over, royal watchers claim
Griffiths’ comments come after Monsters & Critics reported that royal watchers warned that the feud between Harry and William is not over.
Body language expert Blanca Cobb claimed that the royal brothers’ body language during the Diana statue unveiling ceremony suggested they were still feuding, but making conscious efforts to hide the fact.
Cobb suggested that the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge may have received body language training to create the impression that they were on good terms.
“It certainly looked like they had had a little bit of coaching from a body language expert because their previous appearances looked a lot frostier,” royal watcher Molly Mulshine agreed.
William is taking “decisive action” against Harry
M&C reported that royal watchers claimed that Prince William is leading the fightback after the Sussexes made damming allegations of racism against the Royal Family in a series of media appearances.
During a conversation with Palace Confidential host Jo Elvin, Griffiths said that William believed the Royal Family must push back against Meghan and Harry’s media campaign after the Queen’s strategy of trying to “smooth things over” has failed.
Royal biographer Duncan Larcombe also warned that the Royals should expect more attacks by Meghan and Harry and they must consider how to properly respond.
Larcombe added that William was “dreading” what the Sussexes might do next.