The investigation was privately funded and the results and findings of that investigation were always going to be private. Reaffirming it means it won’t see the light of day. It protects the privacy of all involved even Meghan. There has always been tacit confirmation that the bullying happened beyond the need to actually examine the investigation. Earlier on there were "sources" suggesting that there was a contrast between and a clashing of US/UK work cultures i.e. framing Meghan as the demanding boss with the fantastic work-ethic sending "5 am" emails but who clashed with work shy 9-to-5 Brits who couldn't measure up. The problem for the Palace was that they were exposed to their "duty of care" policy and the "dignity at work" policy for the royal staff in so far as there was bullying happening but there was nothing in black and white writing as to how to handle it so to speak. Something needed to be done even in the absence of proper policies and procedures. Thus began the long fall out between the Sussexes and the Royal family as they tried to fumble their way through dealing with a bully within their principal ranks.
In addition her lawyer, Jenny Afia, was on a recent BBC program defining what exactly bullying is according to her (i.e. taking advantage of a power imbalance). If your personal lawyer doesn't just flat our deny it but then feels compelled to go on and give an explanation then it's tacit confirmation that “something” happened. If you’re explaining then you’re losing and what made that worse was that the subjects of the program itself were the two Princes, William and Harry and not Meghan specifically. It was to my mind a covert piece of PR which backfired after scrutiny. Objectively, staff were actually leaving and getting redeployed. The Jason Knauf emails to Simon Case were also confirmation of bullying i.e. that two staff were bullied and another was currently experiencing it, Meghan, ominously, always needing someone in her sights. My feeling is that Meghan (dubbed Duchess Difficult via leaks from “sources”) was a nightmare to deal with, that she created a toxic work environment and that there were no policies in place to deal with clear cut and serial bullying conducted by a principal in the family as there would be no reasonable expectation that they would ever behave in such a way. In the end, I think Megxit was akin to Meghan getting sacked after the serial bullying continued with Harry, wilfully enabling it all, stepping back with her in solidarity. Remember his “sad to be stepping down” statement? Their request for half in/half out was them attempting to compromise in a way that would dilute the negative impact they were having and was a face saving exercise after the royal family finally gave up on trying to corral their serial bullying i.e. let us go away, pretty please, on paid sabbatical and when it all dies down and the bullied staff are squared away then we can perhaps come back intermittently and we promise we will be on our best behaviour? It would be akin to a win-win situation. The Sussexes would no longer have full time staff, they would be free to go and forge their own commercial paths and the Royal family would no longer have the headache of a bully and her enabler causing ructions and discord with their staff.
They got a year away, they were pretty much quiet during the height of Covid but when it was clear that they weren’t going to get to live the life of riley on Charles’ dime then they formally stepped down instead of having previously stepped back. Given that they knew that bullying happened, that they knew this would derail and implode their "compassion in action" selling points then I think that's the only valid reason why they sought engagement with Oprah Winfrey i.e. that they could get their side of the story out there in advance of any investigations or public exposure as anything but what they are selling themselves as. Like a malignant narcissist Meghan decided to drop the race card bomb on her in laws. It’s easy to forget that people were bullied and might speak out about their experience. Playing the victims of an institution which was racist and affected their mental health was the play in order to dilute any such emergent accusations. Anyone crying bully would have been lumped in as part of the machine which were to be defined as anti-Harry and Meghan. They would be getting ahead of the headlines and would portray the family who wouldn’t sufficiently pay them off as unsupportive, indifferent, racist whereas the machine of the monarchy would be defined as cold, calculating, unprotective and insensitive to them both. Deny, distort, deflect. If their involvement with the Finding Freedom book was an implicit and covert means of getting their side of the story into the public domain then the Oprah interview was the explicit means.
I think the whole shuffling and splits in households was the attempt to address it by the senior members and their aides who seemingly took matters into their own hands in the absence of actual policy applied specifically to principals i.e. leave it to us, we’ll deal with them ourselves privately. It would all have been inevitably and understandably acrimonious and it would have caused the rift it ultimately did cause. Based on following this for years this is what I think happened. In October 2018 Knauf sends an email to Simon Case, Williams private secretary, about concerns of Meghan bullying two staff out of the job, was currently bullying another, that Meghan always needed to have someone in her sights. The Royal family had a long held conservative “corporate culture” and my guess is this clashed with Meghan who had her own ideas, who didn’t toe the line and who clashed with staff who understood that the remit was always to serve the monarch i.e. Meghan as a working royal was in that capacity representing the Queen, not herself. Pointing this out by those perceived as underlings would have caused conflict.
The emails show Knauf wondering what the play will be as there is no duty of care policy for "principals" i.e. a principal bullying a staffer was a different situation from a staff member bullying a peer. In November 2018, Harry and Meghan leave Nottingham Cottage and Kensington Palace and their offices are announced to be leaving Kensington Palace and will merge with the Royal Household under the Queen in Buckingham Palace. I think William was done with them, appalled at their treatment of staff and they were effectively assigned to the Palace as a kind of final warning and were now under the watch of the big boss, the Queen, with the expectation that this would temper their behaviour. June 2019 and they split from the Royal Foundation officially. This is William officially and publicly confirming he was formally done with them in a working capacity. November 2019 and it's the South Africa tour along with the public manipulating "not ok" cringe interview and a couple of lawsuits filed with the press by Harry. Future official engagements for the Sussexes are then put on hold i.e. they are not assigned to any future working assignments beyond those already in place/planned on the calendar. The toxic behaviour must have continued and, to me this was them getting informally suspended while the Palace tried to figure out what to do with them.
They went to Canada over the Christmas/New Year but bluntly, they were effectively put in the naughty corner to think about their conduct while the rest of them tried to figure out how "principals" would get disciplined or indeed begin the process of sacking them i.e. if an employee was bullying and, after getting warnings, continued bullying then it would not be unreasonable if they got fired. January 2020 the Sussexes take the initiative and spring the Megxit manifesto in an attempt to manipulate the family and public sentiment. They want half in/half out. This was either them knowing they were going to be demoted or were getting the sack as working Royals. Ever since it's been a bag fumble by them as they lost advisors and the protection of the Palace PR machine. The (expected) non release of the investigation also doesn't reflect well on the Palace. I am sure that they failed in terms of their duty of care towards the multiple staff who were bullied by someone who was supposed to be working with them on behalf of the monarch. The non-release of it also casts doubt on Meghan herself who people will wonder if she did or didn't bully people during her stint as a working Royal. Some critical thinking suggests she did bully people. I guess in the end sympathy is absent considering she threw accusations of racism at a senior member of the Royal family and by not being specific condemned them all collectively. What goes around does indeed come around. In summation if, assuming you're genuinely innocent, with question marks about you bullying people hanging over you then you would be actively clamouring for an investigation into it be released even for a redacted version to be released so that you could at least clear your name, protect your reputation and get absolved. I don't think she will because, as outlined, the bullying did happen and, ironically, the Royal family would be protecting the Sussexes as "much loved members of the family" by this refusal to release it to the public. They know what it contains and it would destroy them as public figures. With the public weighing up what has happened then in terms of did she or didn’t she then, to my mind at least, then it’s a case of she did.
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