Tensions between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and their former royal staff are still around, even though things seem to be slowly getting better between the Sussexes and the Royal Family.
The staff who worked with Harry and Meghan during their time as working royals reportedly called themselves the “Sussex Survivors’ Club” because they found the work environment so difficult. Some staff accused the couple of bullying, while Meghan said the Palace didn’t support her,especially when she was struggling with suicidal thoughts, which she revealed in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Royal author Valentine Low wrote in his book Courtiers that Palace officials like Samantha Cohen, Sir Edward Young, and Sir Clive Alderton tried to gather proof that the Palace had treated Meghan and Harry fairly. But Meghan was already collecting her own notes to show how she felt the Palace had failed her, preparing for future criticism.
One example: Meghan reportedly went to the Palace’s HR department asking for help. While they were kind to her, they told her HR only handles staff problems, not issues involving royal family members.
Rumors of Meghan mistreating staff began as early as 2018. Samantha Cohen was one of at least ten people who were later interviewed in an internal Palace review of bullying claims. Another senior aide, Jason Knauf, once close to the couple, sent an internal email saying he was very worried about how Meghan treated her assistants. He said she pushed two staff members to quit and described the workplace as toxic.
Despite these reports, Meghan was the first to speak publicly about her own struggles during the Oprah interview. According to Low, she shaped the story by talking about her mental health, which took attention away from the staff’s complaints.
In the same interview, Meghan and Harry also said that a senior royal had raised concerns about their unborn son Archie’s skin color. That shocking claim caused a lot of controversy and distracted from other criticisms about their behavior.
The issues didn’t stop there. Meghan was also described as difficult to work with outside of royal life. In 2022, she was reportedly removed from the cover of British Vogue because editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was frustrated with her team’s constant demands. Even before marrying Harry, Meghan was said to be demanding during a 2017 Vanity Fair cover shoot.
