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Palace aides who alleged Meghan Markle bullied them have not changed their minds – and have instead “firmed up” their views, royal author Valentine Low has told Express.co.uk. Low broke the story of bullying allegations against the Duchess days before the broadcast of Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. Meghan has strongly denied the allegations made against her, but “the palace aides’ views have not changed over time”, the journalist said.

He added: “If anything they have firmed up.”

The Duchess of Sussex was accused of bullying two PAs out of Kensington Palace in an internal email sent in October 2018. The story surfaced two-and-a-half years later in March 2021.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex described the account as “a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation”.

Following the claims, the Palace launched a review into HR practices.

In June 2022, it announced that it had investigated how the staff had handled allegations of bullying made against Meghan. However, those findings have not been made public.

Low, who has just released Courtiers: Intrigue, Ambition and the Power Players Behind the House of Windsor, believes the Palace are keeping quiet about the findings of the report to avoid a “reaction” from Harry and Meghan. However, he says staffers have “not changed their views” and, if anything, have strengthened them.

The Palace does not want to further “fan the flames” and cause another “dispute” with the Sussexes, he said.

On why the Palace staff have remained tight-lipped about the bullying allegations, the royal author cited personal and private reasons.

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They might have careers to manage and drawing attention to themselves personally could be damaging, he told Express.co.uk.

The Duchess of Sussex’s lawyer has said bullying accusations can be made “very casually” about career women and can be “very damaging”.

Jenny Afia, a partner at the media law firm Schillings, said the idea the Duchess was a bully “doesn’t match my experience of her”.

Afia spoke last month with Meghan’s permission on a podcast with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, whose recent documentary The Princes and the Press explored the relationship between the royals and the media.

“My daughter called me a bully last week when I asked her to brush her teeth, she’s seven years old,” she said.

“The term is used very freely and it’s a very, very damaging term as we know, particularly I think for career women.”

The Duchess of Sussex’s lawyer added that the claims do not “match” Meghan’s character.

Afia told the podcast: “Knowing her as I do I can’t believe she would ever do that.

“I wasn’t there at the time but it doesn’t match my experience of her at all and I’ve seen her at very, very stressful times.

“That story is absolutely untrue that she is a bully. That said, she wouldn’t want to negate anyone’s personal experiences.”

Low believes “unrealistic expectations” could have been at the heart of Meghan’s struggle to adjust to royal life.

“It was a combination of her unrealistic expectations about what royal life would be like and the palace’s failure to manage those unrealistic expectations,” he suggested.

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