Meghan Markle's biographer slams royals for Lilibet 'coverup story'

A royal author pointed out that the British royals now practice a "deflect and distract" strategy when it comes to scandals surrounding them that need to be cleared. He cited reports about Prince Charles' "dirty cash" scandal, which the royals quickly covered up with a story about the meeting with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's daughter, Lilibet.

Omid Scobie, co-author of "Finding Freedom," called it ironic that the royals briefed the press about the Prince of Wales' first meeting with his granddaughter. It was reportedly something that palace aides feared the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would share with the public once they returned to America from the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

In his piece for Yahoo News, the biographer wrote, "Last week, the most dominant headlines about the Royal Family revolved around family members who left the fold over two years ago — Meghan's 'bullying' allegations and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor meeting Charles for the first time."

He said, "The coverage was no coincidence. Never complain, never explain may slowly be becoming a thing of the past at the palace, but a different order of the day has quickly risen within the institution of the monarchy: deflect and distract."

Scobie claimed that while Prince Charles was forced to announce, via his spokesman, that he will no longer accept cash donations for his charities, "one of his senior aides also briefed journalists with adorable details" about his "emotional" meeting with Lilibet.

"Yes, one of the same private family moments royal sources had 'feared' the Sussexes would leak. The irony," he wrote.

The royal author added that even reports about the royal family's overspending of taxpayers' money did not make headlines. Instead, the media reported on "a suspiciously timed update on the investigation into bullying claims against the Duchess of Sussex."

Scobie claimed that the royal family now resorts to "activating distractions in times of crisis" instead of hiding transgressions or mistakes. He also finds it suspicious that Prince Charles replaced his head of communications with an editor from the Daily Mail newsroom, the same paper that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry won lawsuits against for defamation and invasion of privacy.