Meghan Markle’s Lawyer Accuses the Palace of a “War” Against the Duchess

In advance of the final three episodes of Harry & Meghan, Netflix has released a trailer where Meghan Markle accuses palace staff of feeding negative stories about her to the British media in order to diminish coverage of other members of the family. It’s the most explicit accusation aimed at the palace so far, after the first set of episodes focused their fire on the tabloids that covered Meghan and Prince Harry aggressively when their relationship went public.

“You would just see it play out,” Meghan says in the trailer. “A story about someone in the family would pop up for a minute, and they would go ‘Gotta make that go away.” But there’s real estate on a website homepage, there’s real estate there on a newspaper front cover, and something has to be filled in there, about someone royal.”

Comments from Jenny Afia, the lawyer who represented Meghan in her case against the Mail on Sunday’s parent company, Associated Newspapers, provide some context for Meghan’s accusations. “There was a real kind of war against Meghan. I’ve definitely seen evidence that there was negative briefing from the palace against Harry and Meghan to suit other people’s agendas,” she says. “This barrage of negative articles about the breakdown of the relationship with her father was the final straw in a campaign of negative, nasty coverage about her.”

Lucy Fraser, a friend of Meghan who was introduced in the first set of episodes, is also featured in the trailer. “Meg became this scapegoat for the palace, so they would feed stories on her, whether they were true or not, to avoid other less favorable stories being printed,” she says.

Already, figures in the British press have responded skeptically to the claims. Richard Palmer, the royal correspondent for the Daily Express, “Another trailer making wild allegations,” he wrote. “It will be interesting to see if there is any evidence produced.” The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey pointed out that the palace actually “withheld publication of the bullying inquiry” launched in the wake of 2021 allegations that Meghan had treated her staff poorly.

There hasn’t been any evidence yet in support of a palace conspiracy against Meghan, but it’s hard to deny that insiders did brief against her during her time in the palace. One of the most notable examples happened in December 2018, when a palace source told the Mirror that a personal assistant left because “Meghan put a lot of demands on her and it ended up with her in tears.”

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