HR in Camelot: when Meghan Markle's pleas fell on deaf ears

Like many of you, to me the most amazing revelation coming out of Oprah's interview with Harry and Meghan was the disclosure that when the duchess of Sussex needed help in dealing with the British royal family, she went to HR. And as is so often true when a complaint is made about a family member in a family business, HR fell short.

An heir to a family business imports high-level outside talent, who was a star in her own right in her previous post. Senior managers, family members all, don't like the idea of bringing an outsider into the firm against long-standing tradition. Lacking support within the firm, and suddenly having to perform on one of the world's biggest stages, she finds nowhere to turn for help when her colleagues turn cold. She is attacked and hounded by the press, critical of how she is playing her role. The pressure mounts, affecting her mental health, perhaps making her suicidal.

So she speaks to a senior member of the firm, who tells her that seeking mental health assistance would not be good for the institution. Other colleagues tell her just to lay low and avoid the press. Many employees would let the matter drop right there, but the duchess went one step further, perhaps with the same instinct that you and I have—she went to HR.

HR's reported response was not perfect, but quite predictable: It punted, saying you're not an employee and there's nothing we can do for you. In fact, what could they do? Though it may be called an "institution" or "the firm" and it may earn 150,000,000 pounds a year and control a billion pounds in assets, it is first and foremost a family. The living poster for nepotism.