What did the Royal Family know and when?

[LifeIsTooShort247]

With everything that has emerged about Andrew and Epstein, and now the allegations concerning Thomas Markle, I think there are some much bigger questions about what the Royal Family and Palace officials knew, when they knew it, and what they did with that information.

We are looking at two very different situations involving serious allegations of sexual abuse. One concerns a member of the Royal Family itself, Andrew, and the other concerns the father of someone who married into it, Thomas Markle.
In Andrew's case, there are still so many unanswered questions about the extent of the late Queen's knowledge, the protection he received over the years and the role played by senior courtiers. Who knew what, how far back did that knowledge go, and who made the decisions about how matters were handled?

Now with Thomas Markle. What I find particularly interesting is that the Metropolitan Police have confirmed the letter was passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in January 2019, rather than simply being handed privately to Meghan. At that time, Harry and Meghan were still part of the Kensington Palace household structure, which they shared with William and Catherine. Jason Knauf was communications secretary for both couples.

Given the seriousness and sensitivity of the allegations, surely it is reasonable to question whether the matter was discussed with senior Palace officials or brought to the attention of senior members of the Royal Family?

Who within the office received the correspondence? Who handled it? Was Jason Knauf aware? Were William and Catherine briefed? Did the Queen or her private secretary know anything about it?

We don't know the answers, and I'm not suggesting that everyone necessarily knew. But that is precisely the point.

The circumstances involving Andrew are different, but both situations raise questions about how sensitive information was handled within the royal institution.

What did the Royal Family know, when did they know it, and what did they do with that knowledge?

Surely these are questions worth asking of the institution with regards to both situations.

"Given the seriousness and sensitivity of the allegations"

What exactly are the serious and sensitive allegations in the letter? Can you outline them?

The Met didn't deem that there were any credible allegations that needed referral to any foreign law enforcement agency. Moreover, the letter writer apparently wanted to warn about Meghan's security, but, according to the Met, the letter contained nothing about security.

The only thing the Met may have done wrong thus far was to pass the letter on to the Sussex office.

I am talking about both situations of sexual abuse here. If the letter went to the their office who in the 'office' also knew? Was the Queen then also notified about it, what did Jason Knauf do since he was overseeing the communciations. Was William informed since they shared the same 'office'.

We now hear that Epstein was at Balmoral and potentially victims were brought their too, who wasinformed about that, staff would of know who else was then told.

We know the Queen knew after itall came to light who else was involved in discussions? Charles? William? Andrew was still being supported by the family and turning up to 'family' events too.

WE DON’T KNOW!!!

Have you not learned anything from all that horrible gossip about Catherine when she had cancer?

Just wait.

That’s not true. The IOPC reported today that an independent enquiry is now required and the Met police have now been tasked with referring on the incident/letter to the appropriate LE jurisdictions overseas.

So they have determined that the contents of the letter met a threshold for forwarding on and that this failed to happen in 2019 so is happening now and that failure to do so is to be investigated.

Now let me see….are you blaming the royal family for both Andrew and Thomas markle?
if so ….then I’m assuming that you are holding the Sussex’s responsible for both Thomas and Andrew too! …no ? …why not?

(Hello Jeffers 👋. Lying low here!)

Actually, it absolutely is true that the Met didn't think when they received the letter in 2019 that the allegations in it warranted any follow-up, which is why they didn't pass anything on to foreign law enforcement. I doubt they've suddenly decided the letter contains any relevant information. They are just passing it on now because an unrelated issue has arisen and the unpublished letter has become an hot potato, so they are covering themselves from any further accusations. I doubt foreign law enforcement will come up with much.

The allegations in the letter appear to be unsubstantiated hearsay from Thomas Markle's embittered ex-wife, with no specific criminal incident being referred to. She even gave an interview to the Mirror a couple of months later with a full-on diatribe against Markle. Lots about him being a big womaniser and cheat against grown women, but nothing about kids.

Not true at all. They are now forwarding the letter 7 years later to the LE in other jurisdictions as a result of their internal enquiry and IOPC enquiry. They should have taken this step as per standard protocol in 2019, the didn’t so they are correcting that mistake. In addition the IOPC have stated that a further independent investigation as to WHY they failed to do this in 2019 is now required.

It was not for the Met to determine the veracity of the claims of alleged crimes in other jurisdictions - they have one requirement which is to pass everything on to give that jurisdiction the opportunity to investigate any alleged crimes on their soil. They failed to do that so any intervention to prevent further crimes and protect other children from sexual violence was thwarted.

The next investigation by the IOPC will uncover WHY this happened. Careless mistake or deliberate cover up.

@Alfiebets Do you have any idea what the allegations in this letter are? What's interesting is that there is no one who is personally accusing Markle of having abused her.

No I don’t. But I am assured that the IOPC have determined that there was sufficient information around alleged crimes in other jurisdictions to have required the Met to have referred that letter on to the appropriate LE agencies at that time.

The question is why they chose not to do that and that is the aim of the independent enquiry the IOPC yesterday announced will take place.

I'm looking forward to the results of the independent enquiry too. It should clear a lot of things up, hopefully about the data breach too. Let's also see how these foreign law enforcement agencies respond. I suspect not much will come out of any of this. Thomas Markle Jr apparently contacted the FBI in July with his allegations against his father, but they ignored him. I guess having multiple copies of Hollywood Lolitas isn't a crime.

Hi life 👋 ( probably best if I join you!)

That isn’t what the Met have said. They’ve reported themselves because they didn’t share the letter with foreign police. They know they should have.

Its clear that because this involves MM nobody on these boards will accept that the royal family / its staff did know in 2018/2019 but that Meghan herself should also have fully investigated and shouted from the rooftops about what she’d been told.

I agree with OP, I think questions need to be asked about what and who in the Royal Family knew.

Thiis letter is said by the MET to have been passed to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's office for awareness back in January 2019, it was handled through official household channels. At that exact time, Harry and Meghan were still very much a part of the main Kensington Palace structure, sharing staff like Jason Knauf with William and Kate.

What staff members handled it, and was the Queen ever briefed?

When you look at the imtensity of what was blowing up with Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein at that exact same time in 2019, the royal family's internal awareness must have been on absolute high alert regarding these kinds of issues.

If the Palace and the Met Police were sitting on information, it makes you wonder how many years of institutional deflection and covering up for Andrew essentially created a environment where he felt he could continue operating without any real accountability or fear of consequences.

Are we looking at a situation where institutional panic over Andrew meant other highly disturbing files were quietly shelved to protect the family image?

The letter doesn't even appear to have had any specific allegations in it, just some unsubstantiated hearsay from someone with a grudge against Thomas Markle. I do look forward to the results of the enquiry, however, although I don't think they will come to much.

I'm more interested in what the data breach was and whether it has anything to do with Meghan.

No you are wrong. It was not minimised as ‘unsubstantiated hearsay’ without any specific allegations as you have done.

This is what the IOPC announced yesterday:

Following a voluntary conduct referral from the Met Police, we have decided an independent investigation is required into its failure to pass on allegations of serious offending, contained in a letter it received in 2019, to relevant overseas authorities at the time.

Er this is reported in serious newspapers - they are legitimate , valid questions. It's ridiculous to keep on brining up Kate's cancer - it's not relaxvnt to this discussion.,

Marina Hyde ex of the Guardin is on the case.

The Met Police’s Stunning Lack of Curiosity Around the Royal Family
Why didn’t they follow all the child protection and safeguarding protocols we are always told are set in stone?
Or do they think they’re like the deaths of Spinal Tap drummers - “best left unsolved”?
I’m afraid we have to ask after the story of the child sex allegations against Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas.
In addition to the ongoing saga of the former Prince Andrew and his involvement with the dead paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

https://www.marinahyde.com/p/the-met-polices-stunning-lack-of?r=39c5sl&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

Agree. There is a massive difference between people gossiping on social media sites and serious questions about whether police forces have acted properly. That is something which affects us all. Especially if they are doing it to protect members of the RF who are there by consent.

The best way out of this for the Royal Family would be to place any blame firmly at the door of the late Queen. I am not advocating for this, but it's the only way I can think of that allows present members to walk away relatively unscathed.

They knew and kept it quiet and they are the institution. Like the Church and all the rest that kept quiet about child abuse in case it impact them. She helped to pay £12 million to a victim of sexual abuse who committed suicide who was probably abused by her son.

Hence my post.

Agree with all of that. And the posters talking about the Met as if the were golden surely can't be women.

They already have for Andrew. The only thing that matters is the continuation of the Monarchy. Whatever it takes to protect the Monarch and heir will be done. I think that part of Harry's problem is that he doesn't accept that he may be part of the family by birth but all of his and his family's privilege and influence depends on the Monarchy and nothing else is as important. Not him, clearly not disgusting or improper or criminal behaviour, unless it threatens their positions. So he (and his mother) blamed the staff but the ultimate responsibility was on his family, who don't care about him or anyone (not even the previous Monarch) as much as they care about staying on the Throne.

This is HUGE but don't expect transparency anytime soon. Meghan was inside the RF at the time so the blame lies with them as to why this wasn't actioned at the time. The answerer is obvious - reputational damage pure and simple.