Why Queen Elizabeth Won't Release 'Inflammatory' Bullying Report Involving Meghan Markle: Report

Buckingham Palace will not release the results of an investigation into allegations that Meghan Markle "bullied" royal staffers because Queen Elizabeth does not want any more of the royal family's dirty laundry aired in public, a royal expert has claimed.

Royal correspondent Katie Nicholl, author of several books on the royal family including "The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown," spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the palace's reported decision not to publicly release a report on the investigation into the bullying claims, which Markle has denied via her rep.

"Everything that I'm hearing at the moment out of the palace, is that the Queen doesn't want any more drama. She just doesn't want any more dirty linens aired in public," Nicholl told ET.

She continued, "By taking it in-house, which is essentially what the Queen has done, she is trying to limit any further damage, any further damage to the monarchy, potentially any further damage to those members of staff who have made those allegations and also, possibly to the Duchess of Sussex, who denied those allegations."

Unnamed royal insiders told The Sunday Times in a report published over the weekend that the investigation into Markle's alleged bullying of two senior staff members when she was a working royal has resulted in changes to the "policies and procedures" of the monarchy’s HR department.

But the report on the probe, conducted by an independent law firm that was reportedly instituted and funded by Queen Elizabeth, will be kept under wraps permanently to protect the privacy of those involved in the investigation and to "limit tensions between the Sussexes and the palace," the sources claimed.

Nicholl also told ET that there has been speculation that the reason the findings won't be made public is that the palace is trying to protect the privacy and anonymity of those who participated in the investigation.

The "Kate: The Future Queen" scribe went on to claim that there is some speculation that the report may contain negative findings about Markle and that the Duchess of Sussex is possibly "being protected in all of this."

Ultimately, the royal author said she believes that this is a case of keeping "a really very inflammatory story under the radar" in order to preserve the "integrity of those staff, of the Duchess of Sussex and indeed of the reputation of the monarchy." International Business Times could not independently verify this information.

The bullying investigation was launched in March 2021 following a report by U.K.'s The Times that was published just days before Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey was set to air.

The duchess faced a bullying complaint at Kensington Palace in October 2018, claiming she "drove two personal assistants out of the household and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member," according to the report.

A spokesperson for Markle denied all bullying claims at the time, calling it a "calculated smear campaign."