LONDON: Prince Harry’s wife Meghan has accused Buckingham Palace of “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and her spouse, saying the royal couple would not be silent in telling their story.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, made the comments to American talk show host Oprah Winfrey in an interview about why they quit their royal roles that is due to be broadcast on US television on Sunday.

An advance excerpt of the interview was released on Wednesday, hours after Buckingham Palace said it was “very concerned” about reports in the Times newspaper that assistants working for Meghan two years ago had been bullied by her.

Harry and Meghan issued a statement denying that she had bullied anyone.

“How do you feel about the Palace hearing you speak your truth today?” Winfrey asks Meghan in the excerpt.

Meghan responded: “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent, if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.” The Firm is the name that the British royal family sometimes uses to describe itself.

“And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, there’s a lot that’s been lost already,” Meghan added.

The interview was recorded before The Times newspaper ran a report citing unnamed sources as saying an aide to Harry and Meghan had raised a complaint in October 2018 alleging that Meghan had reduced some of her assistants to tears and treated others so badly that they had quit.

The paper said Harry had urged the aide, who has now left their staff, to drop the complaint, and it never progressed.

The Times said it had been contacted by former staff members who wanted the public to gain insight before the Winfrey interview aired — and that lawyers for the couple had labelled the allegations a smear orchestrated by the Palace.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2021