Meghan Markle was accused of mistreating royal staffers during her brief time as a working duchess, but her in-laws failed to shut down the speculation surrounding her behavior.
In Harry & Meghan, Prince Harry claimed the former actress was emotional after the Windsors avoided commenting on the matter.
“I mean, the saddest part of it was this wedge created between me and my brother so that he’s now on the institution’s side,” Harry shared. “And I get, part of that I get. I understand right? That’s his inheritance, so to some extent it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution.”
“That day, a story came out that part of the reason why Meghan and I were leaving was because William had bullied us out,” he noted.
When the Sussexes left the U.K., rumors spread about their reasoning, but the duo felt unprotected by the institution’s approach to the public fodder.
“And once I got in the car after the meeting, I was told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and my brother’s name squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family,” the Duke of Sussex continued. “I couldn’t believe it. No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that.”
“And I rang [Meghan] and I told her and she burst into floods of tears because within four hours they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us,” he admitted.
As OK! reported, Kensington Palace’s email correspondence was leaked in April, and staffers claimed they were “bullied out of the household.” The intimidation was presumably done by Meghan, who was then “targeting female members of staff.”
One of these aides admitted the idea of coming to work with the former actress made her “feel sick.”
Royal private secretary Samantha Cohen said the Sussexes’ had a high employee turnover in an interview she gave in April.
“I was only supposed to stay for six months but stayed for 18. We couldn’t find a replacement for me, and when we did, we took them on tour to Africa with Harry and Meghan to show them the ropes, but they left (quit) as well while in Africa,” she told an outlet.
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In 2021, Meghan adamantly denied the allegations when they first hit headlines.
- “Let’s just call this what it is — a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation,” a statement from the Sussexes’ spokesperson read. “We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of the Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet. It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining the duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and the duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience of recent years.”