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.

Of course. They need to find out what Harry and Meghan knew and what the Royal family knew.

How do you know this?
It’s actually more probable that the royal household did know about the accusations, in my opinion.

I know because of the Times article I have shared upthread and which was published yesterday evening. It's has a whole section on who knew what - or didn't know.

I’m glad you agree that what the Sussex’s knew needs to be gotten to the bottom of

Well we know that the letter was shared with Meghan. We can’t be sure she then shared it with Harry, but it’s likely, I’d say.

Further than that it’s mere speculation. But as I said upthread, it’s quite possible- even probable - that it went no further than that in the royal offices. I mean - if the HaMs were at loggerheads with their two advisers, they’d be unlikely to share something like this, especially since there was distrust and also because…didn’t they share JK withWaC. M CERTAINLY wouldn’t want them knowing, would she?

Well it gets murkier and murkier because she has since told Hello that PH and ‘others’ knew and it has been a big burden for them all the last 8 years. Wonder who the others were…..?

"But at the same time, there is a sense of relief because it's something that she and Harry have had to carry for a very long time, and people close to them as well. And so there is a degree of relief that people now know the full story."

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/932479/meghan-markle-in-bits-over-disturbing-father-allegations-shes-really-struggling/

I wish Meghan’s team refrain from speaking to the press atm , people are not gullible . An officer can’t take decisions on their behalf. They are there to offer protection and report back to the Met.
The times reports they can’t locate the said officer which is their way of saying this could never have happened!
did they ,M&H, have a word with said protection officer and say look we will deal with it our way ?

@Alfiebets
Don’t be so ridiculous. If the RF knew and chose to leak that they knew it would make them as bad as MM if not worse - compromising an !investigation’, utilising the allegations of sexual violation of hundreds of children to score PR points, underhand leaking and briefing the media, not following up on an ‘investigation’ etc

The idea that, had they known, they would have leaked the information whenever it suited them is entirely plausible. What is not possible—and frankly ridiculous to even consider—is that they would have done so in a way that exposed them. They would have made sure to sever any ties that could implicate them. After "Megxit," they had zero interest in protecting HaM. The RF had seven years to distance themselves from the whole affair.

@Alfiebets

Oh dear - this reminds me of the royal racists allegations - throwing shade on vague, unnamed people. It’s difficult to refute because she doesn’t name people yet starts speculation as to who she means.

I smell manipulation.

If Meghan could have named Palace staff and shifted the blame onto them she would have done, if she could have shifted blame onto royal family members she would have done, the fact she hasn’t speaks volumes, instead she has blamed a mystery RPO who no one appears to know the name of and apparently has conveniently disappeared off the face of the earth and is untraceable. It’s clear that the only people who knew about this letter were some employees in the met and Meghan Markle.

But shes since added to the mystery RPO following the Hello report. She has now added PH and ‘people close to them’ (not just her) - could be anyone or no one. What about Scobie, Jessica Mulroney, Eugenie, OW?

I’d be amazed if M shared the news with Mulroney, Eugenie, or anyone except H.

It would be very risky for anyone (and also a shameful matter to admit this about your father) but I don’t think Meghan would trust others with this. She’s not naive and trusting - she’s calculating and wary and would think very carefully about who to tell or not tell.

Only Meghan can answer that for sure and we would only have her word which frankly isn’t worth much because of habitual lying but I presume her besty Marcus will have known he’s the third wheel in that relationship and probably Doria considering she lived with them and obviously her relationship with TM.

You share news like this on a need to know basis. Nothing to do with protecting Thomas. Everything to do with not jeopardising any prosecution.

Ok - so they said they didn’t know and there’s nothing more to see here?

No, i wasn’t even thinking of Thomas. I think it’s highly unlikely that M shared news of the letter with anyone but H and Doria.

I think ( none of us knows) that when she said “people close to us “ that’s who she meant.

Who else is close to her? She dumps so-called close friends like old tissues and I don’t for a moment think she’d have shared with H’s family.

Yep - unless you want journalists to resort to using a thumb screw, turning it ever tighter until they confess to knowing.

Simon Case, Jason Knauf and Samantha Cohen have all held down jobs which require focus and discretion. I would rate them as reliable interviewees, unlike Meghan, who has a trail of untruths scattered behind her eg no collaboration with Omid Scobie book, married in back yard, passport removed by royal household.

Their professional lives depend on their integrity and they will be rightly careful to safeguard their reputations.

I think journalists should be allowed to investigate matters - and should not be expected to just accept that something is true simply because that’s what the royal household says.
And members of the public should be allowed to be sceptical, especially in the light of everything that’s emerged about Andrew and how the royals brushed all that under the carpet for as long as they could.
Maybe the royal family didn’t know anything about TM’s alleged proclivities, but it’s all very convenient isn’t it?
They never even met Thomas Markle; seems to me like they investigated potential future issues with Meghan’s wider family and decided not to touch the Markles with a barge pole from the get go.

We don’t know. We’re all merely speculating but I think some scenarios are more plausible than others.

Personally I can’t imagine M sharing this news with the RF - not in a million years, knowing what we know about her and her relationship with her in laws.

If the RF knew anything it would come from other sources.

Journalists are allowed to investigate and they do. I do think it humorous to insinuate that RF knew about Thomas Markle when it appears the only ones who knew about it was the officer to passed the letter to the Sussex’s who promptly kept quiet about it for 8 / 9 years via the article in today’s Times.. Didn’t the Sussex’s also say something about silence and complicity?

I could sooner believe a man can fly than that M shared this traumatic news with any of the RF other than H.

As I said upthread, I think the phrase “those close to us” means Doria.

As I said before if anyone in the royal family or royal household was aware of this letter you can bet your house Meghan would be screaming it from the rooftops, but she hasn’t, we know for a fact that an officer from the met shared the letter with Meghan and she did not share its contents for 7 years and even then only because her hand was forced by TMJ, the buck stops with her no matter how much posters want it not to be so.

You can't legally share these letters with the public. It's only because it became publicly known Meghan could talk about it.
Why would Meghan know if other royals knew about the letter? She has no idea who it was shared with.

I agree that if the royal family knew anything, and if MM was aware they knew, there would be very great risk of her revealing this fact.
If the royal family starts protecting her - and giving her what she wants in the future - it will therefore be a little suspicious.