Meghan Markle defends herself against Buckingham Palace workplace harassment allegations

The confrontation between the Dukes of Sussex and the British royal family rises in tone just before the broadcast of the long-awaited interview that the couple has granted to Oprah Winfrey and which will be broadcast next Sunday.

In what the couple's advisers point to as a use to undermine Meghan Markle's image, the British newspaper

has published this Wednesday that Meghan Markle was the subject of a complaint for alleged workplace harassment to several aides in her time in London, when she was already part of the United Kingdom monarchy after her wedding to Prince Harry, on May 19, 2018. The newspaper explains that it has been contacted by sources linked to the case, which it does not identify, who want to expose their version of the American actress before she and Enrique appear on Sunday in the interview they have given to one of the most famous communicators of United States, with whom they also maintain a relationship of personal friendship.

According to EFE, the alleged complaint against Markle, which has denied the facts, was raised internally in October 2018 by the then communication secretary of the couple, Jason Knauf, who today works for Prince William.

Knauf sent an email to Simon Case - at that time the private secretary of Enrique's older brother and now head of the government of the Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson - and also contacted the head of Human Resources of the palace, Samantha Carruthers.

According to

Knauf reported that two personal assistants of the Duchess were being victims of workplace harassment on their part, to the point that they left their post, and that a third member of staff was being "humiliated".

The British newspaper claims that Prince Henry implored Knauf to drop the case and that for its part Buckingham Palace did nothing concrete in relation to those complaints or to protect Markle.

The Times

cites that the email sent by Knauf left no room for doubt and read verbatim: “I am very concerned that the Duchess may have intimidated two police assistants outside the house last year.

X's treatment was totally unacceptable ”, X being Meghan Markle, supposedly.

And he adds: “The Duchess seems determined to always have someone in the spotlight.

She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine his confidence.

We have received report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y ”, a Y used as a key to refer to one of the attendees whom he allegedly harassed.

Along the same lines,

also reveals that Markle wore earrings that were a wedding gift from Saudi Prince Mohamed bin Salman at a formal dinner in Fiji in 2018, shortly after he was accused by the United States of having ordered the murder of the dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

According to the London newspaper, at that time the duchess told her team to tell the press that the earrings were a loan, "despite being aware of their origin."

In a statement sent to the newspaper that today publishes these facts, a spokesman for the Sussexes states that the information published responds to "a calculated campaign" of defamation based on "misleading and harmful information", and points out that "it is not a coincidence" that it appears just when the couple is about to talk "honestly and openly about their experience in recent years."

The spokesman explains that they have refuted the accusations in a legal letter to the newspaper, including those referring to "the use of gifts lent to the Duchess by the Crown."

The statement goes on to say that "the Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her, especially for being someone who has personally been the victim of harassment and for being deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma."

According to the spokesperson, Meghan, who, along with Enrique, dissociated herself from royal duties a year ago to move first to Canada and then to the United States, will continue her work "to promote compassion in the world."

In parallel, the Dukes of Sussex continue their frontal confrontation with the British media for harassment and in particular Meghan Markle's advisers ask on his behalf for an apology on the front page and an initial payment of 450,000 pounds (about 520,000 euros) to cover their costs legal, which amount to around 1.5 million pounds (just over 1.7 million euros).

Petitions that come after winning in court his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers in the case of the publication of the letter that Henry of England's wife wrote to his father in August 2018, shortly after their wedding.

According to

, a higher court judge on Tuesday ordered the

to hand over any copies they might have obtained of that private handwritten letter.

Ian Mill QC, on behalf of Meghan Markle, has requested a court order to "restrict acts of copyright infringement and misuse of private information," according to the ITV medium. “The defendant has not offered any compromise, the defendant has not provided his copies of the letter so the threat to infringe and furthermore misuse his private information remains real and, inexplicably, the defendant has not yet deleted in their digital versions the articles to which the demand refers ”. Mill has also demanded that a statement about Meghan Markle's victory be published on the front pages of the

and on the

"to act as a deterrent to future offenders." Some measures and economic requests that the representatives of the defendant communication company consider "disproportionate and unnecessary."