There are more fallouts from Meghan Markle‘s jaw-dropping interview with Oprah Winfrey. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s former press secretary has decided to shed some light on the disturbing claims made by the former actress via a letter.
Sitting with her husband, Prince Harry, by her side, a very pregnant Meghan Markle made several accusations against the royal family and the British monarchy.
The former actress and activist said that she was not protected by The Firm or the heads of the royal family while she was a senior royal and living in London with Prince Harry.
Meghan Markle claimed that she felt there was a lack of security and protection because she, along with her family, including her mother, Doria Ragland, and father Thomas Markle Sr and her close entourage, were asked never to address the media no matter what was said or written about her.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, said she was forced to stay silent as she read and heard horrors about her life being spilled in the media.
Her friends and relatives did as they were told, but the royal family declined to ever set the record straight about the stories being leaked about her.
Meghan Markle went on to shock the world by claiming that while the tabloids were ruining her reputation, royal aides lied to protect the valued members of the royal family.
During the controversial sit-down with the media mogul, Meghan Markle made the following confessions: “I did anything they told me to do — of course I did because it was also through the lens of, ‘And we’ll protect you.’ So, even as things started to roll out in the media that I didn’t see — but my friends would call me and say, ‘Meg, this is really bad’ — because I didn’t see it, I’d go, ‘Don’t worry. I’m being protected’.”
She added: “And I think that was . . . that was really hard to reconcile because it was only . . . it was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren’t willing, to tell the truth, to protect my husband and me.”
Jason Knauf, who used to work for Kate Middleton and Prince William and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has debunked the claims in a leaked letter to the media.
Royal expert and radio host Kevin O’Sullivan sat down with former royal editor Charlie Rae to talk about the allegations levied by Markle and why her former staff member has decided to speak out.
O’Sullivan stated: “Meghan complained in her now-notorious Oprah interview that the Palace offered her no protection as she suffered all sorts of problems when she joined the Royal Family. Now, the Palace says she was protected. Former communications secretary Jason Knauff said he led extensive efforts to protect the Duchess.”
He added: “He said he did all he could do to protect Meghan from the press, to try and help her, and he put this on record.” Rae responded: “He has clearly had enough.”
Knauf, who now works for the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, decided to refute Meghan Markle’s revelations that she was not protected while residing in the UK.
Knauf’s lawyers shared the letter that read: “From 2016, Mr. Knauf led extensive efforts to protect the privacy and reputation of the Duchess and, as and when directed by her, the privacy of her parents.”
It went on to say: “This included drafting a press statement in November 2016, issued in his own name, condemning racist and sexist coverage of Ms. Markle, as she then was, and other regular interventions – directly to media and through the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) – to request privacy both for her and for her parents.”
Knauf’s letter surfaced as part of the high-profile lawsuit that Markle has filed against the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), the publishers of the Mail On Sunday and the MailOnline.
Markle and the media outlet have been fighting in court over the publication of a private letter to her father, Thomas Markle, in 2018.
Meghan Markle had put so much of her trust in Knauf that she asked him for his input while writing the letter to her father.
Knauf has since reported Meghan Markle for bullying.
