EUROPE
Buckingham Palace won’t publish probe into claims of
Meghan bullying staff
By Karla
Adam
June 30,
2022 at 7:20 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/30/meghan-royal-family-bullying-report-conclusion/
LONDON —
Buckingham Palace confirmed that “lessons have been learned” following an
investigation into complaints that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, had bullied
palace staff members, but it has not published the findings nor explained what
those lessons are.
.
Last year,
the palace launched an investigation into bullying claims after an article in
the Times of London claimed that two of her employees had been driven from
their jobs and a third had been undermined.
Lawyers for
Meghan denied the reports, calling it a “calculated smear campaign” and said
that the Times of London was being “used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a
wholly false narrative” about the duchess. The reports appeared in the paper
shortly before Meghan and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah
Winfrey.
The palace,
which never backed the claims but said they were serious enough to be
investigated, said in a statement on Thursday that the probe had concluded and
that “recommendations on our policies and procedures have been taken forward.”
The palace said that it would not be publishing the results of the review,
which looked at how the palace handled the complaints — not the specifics of
the allegations themselves.
Buckingham
Palace to investigate whether Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, bullied her staff
During a
Wednesday briefing on annual royal finances, a palace official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity, told reporters that the details would remain confidential
to protect the privacy of those who gave testimony about their experiences.
“Because of
the confidentiality of the discussions we have not communicated the detailed
recommendations,” the official said. “The recommendations have been
incorporated within policies and procedures wherever appropriate, and policies
and procedures have changed.”
The
official added: “I think the objectives have been satisfied because lessons
have been learned.”
Royal
watchers had expected the review might be mentioned in the Sovereign Grant
Report, the annual financial accounts of the monarchy’s spending and income
that was published on Thursday.
According
to the palace official, the investigation into the bullying allegations was
funded privately, not by taxpayers, meaning that it did not have to be included
in the public accounts.
The annual
report showed that British monarch’s official expenditure for 2021-2022 had
been about $124 million, an increase of 17 percent on the previous financial
year.
This amount
exceeded the $105 million in the Sovereign Grant — the pot of public money
provided by the British government to cover the costs of the queen’s household
and upkeep of royal residences. The palace said that the royal finances cost
$1.57 per person in the United Kingdom and that the bulk of its spending went
toward major renovation works at Buckingham Palace. The extra costs, the palace
said, would be met by reserves set aside in previous years.
The
accounts showed that the most expensive trip over the past year was the trip to
the Caribbean in March by Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of
Cambridge — seen as something of a public relations disaster — that cost
$274,000.
William and
Kate, touring the Caribbean to celebrate queen’s jubilee, draw anti-colonial
protests, demands for reparations
Some said
that the costs seemed excessive, especially in the current economic climate
with a cost-of-living crisis that is starting to bite. Inflation in the U.K. is
over 9 percent — the highest rate in 40 years. “£100m for the royals? Reign it
in,” roared the Daily Mirror on its front page.
Michael
Stevens, the queen’s treasurer who is also called the Keeper of the Privy
Purse, said in a statement that royal finances would also probably be tightened
in coming years.
“With the
Sovereign Grant likely to be flat in the next couple of years, inflationary
pressures on operating costs and our ability to grow supplementary income
likely to be constrained in the short term, we will continue to deliver against
our plans and manage these impacts through our own efforts and efficiencies,” he
said.
By Karla
Adam
Karla Adam
is a London correspondent for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in
2006, she worked as a freelancer in London, writing for several U.S.
publications including the New York Times, Newsweek and People magazine. She is
a former president of the Association of American Correspondents in
London. Twitter
Royal family receives over £100 million as costs
soar despite cost of living crisis - full breakdown
Costs claimed by senior royals such as the Queen,
Prince Charles and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have continued to rise
By Russell
Myers Enda Mullen
08:26, 30
JUN 2022UPDATED08:53, 30 JUN 2022
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/uk-world-news/royal-family-receives-over-100-24359721
A new
report has revealed that the royal family cost taxpayers £102.4 million last
year. While the country continues to cope with the cost of living crisis the
money received by the the royals rose by 17 per cent (£15 million).
It means
the cash they received exceeded £100 million for the first time. Royal finances
expert Norman Baker described it as “not right”, the Mirror reports.
The bill
was driven up in part by the multi-million-pound renovation of Buckingham
Palace. Spending on the project rose to £63.9 million, up £14.4million on the
previous year.
Renovation
work intensified to prepare the palace for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Queen was in another of her official residences yesterday, receiving
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
The
Sovereign Grant Report shows that last year the royal family’s travel costs
soared from £1.3 million to £4.5 million, as in-person royal visits resumed
following the pandemic.
Royal
finances expert Norman Baker said: “The Government should have a complete
rethink of how taxpayers’ money is allocated to the royal family. We have no
say in how the royals choose to use private jets or helicopters, which are all
paid for out of the public purse, and while ordinary people are struggling it
isn’t right.”
The 10-year
Buckingham Palace renovation project appears to be on target to cost £369
million. Delivering the Sovereign Grant Report, Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir
Michael Stevens, said: “There was a significant increase in work against a hard
deadline to enable Buckingham Palace to be at the centre of the Platinum
Jubilee celebrations. We were pleased to deliver against our plans.”
Spending on
the royals rose by almost £15 million in 2021/22, up more than 17 per cent on
the previous year, the report revealed. Sir Michael said: “The year was not
without operational and financial challenges. Covid meant we had another year
in which access to the royal palaces was restricted for the Royal Collection
Trust, which again affected our ability to help self-finance our work on behalf
of the nation.”
While
ordinary Brits coped with the cost of living crisis costs incurred by senior
royals continued to rise. Prince William and Kate’s trip to the Caribbean cost
£226,000 in flights and accommodation.
Despite
campaigning on environmental issues, Prince Charles still flies between his
royal residences at an average cost of £15,000 a time. The Queen’s royal train
cost £100,000 for just three outings last year, but is now exclusively powered
by “hydro-treated vegetable oil”, royal sources revealed.
As a
non-working royal, like Prince Harry and his wife Megan, Prince Andrew no
longer qualifies for public funding and gets nothing from the Sovereign Grant.
He is now thought to be exclusively funded privately by the Queen.
Caribbean tour
William and
Kate’s controversial visit to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas cost roughly
£226,000. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came in for heavy criticism during
the tour in March, with critics labelling it a “throwback to Britain’s colonial
past”.
The royal
pair raised eyebrows for travelling in an open top Land Rover driven by a
Jamaican soldier during a military parade, with some people suggesting it
“looked like a scene from The Crown”.
In an
unprecedented statement, William said after the Caribbean visit: “Tours are an
opportunity to reflect. You learn so much. This tour has brought into even
sharper focus questions about the past and the future. In Belize, Jamaica and
the Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon.”
Royal train
The Queen
will not give up using the royal train despite just three outings for her and
Prince Charles costing £100,000 The monarch will hold on to her favourite mode
of transport, which she can travel and sleep on when on engagements - despite
it being used so little each year.
Her Majesty
used the royal train last July on a return journey from Windsor to Manchester
to celebrate 60 years of Coronation Street and the 600th Anniversary of
Manchester Cathedral, costing a staggering £42,452. Prince Charles used the
train twice, with a journey over several days between Stonehaven, Newcastle and
Durham and back to Windsor coming in at £42,450.
A royal
aide said: “The Queen has no plans to stop using the royal train which provides
excellent value for money.”
Green fuel
Environmentalist
Charles committed to using “green fuel” for plane journeys where he can,
despite it costing the public purse far more than normal fuel. A source said:
“The prince is aware of the extra cost but the destructive cost to the environment
during a climate emergency is far greater."
Harry and
Meghan are now paying for themselves - the Prince of Wales no longer funds them
after they ditched their royal roles seeking “financial independence”. After they
shed their life as working royals in 2020 they signed £100m worth of deals with
streaming giants Netflix and Spotify.
During the
couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in March last year, Harry said “my family
literally cut me off financially” in “the first quarter of 2020”. A source
close to Prince Charles said the Duke and Duchess “should be congratulated on
achieving their goal” in raking in millions from the private sector - despite
using their new found roles to routinely slam the royal family on global
television interviews.
Charles’s
bill for his sons and their families no longer lists the Sussexes in the
accounts.
Charity cash
Changes to
the way the royal charities accept donations have been implemented after Prince
Charles accepted £2.6million in cash from a former prime minister of Qatar. The
Prince of Wales will never again handle large sums in notes to be passed to his
charities, a royal source has stated.
Charles
faced criticism over being presented with one million euros stuffed in a
briefcase while two other cash gifts of more than £1.6million were given in
Fortnum & Mason carrier bags between 2011 and 2015. A report claimed the
heir to the throne personally accepted the donations for his charity The Prince
of Wales’s Charitable Fund from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, above .
A royal
source said Charles acts on advice and such incidents have not happened in the
past five years and will not happen again.
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