In 2024, the Duchess was accused of making her staff “feel like s***” during her brief stint as a senior royal, with a source telling The Sunday Times: “I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s***.” At the time, royal historian Hugo Vickers said the allegations were “not surprising” and revealed other stories he had heard from former members of Meghan’s staff.
He told The Sun: “Well, I’m afraid I’m not surprised by these allegations because even when she was at Windsor, I remember hearing from very good sources that there was trouble.
“There was a time when she was very rude to one of the under gardeners at Windsor when they were at Frogmore Cottage. The head gardener went to complain to the Queen, and she told her off because she obviously didn’t like people being rude to staff.
“None of these other stories surprised me. She probably is not very good with staff or people that she’s employing. It’s just very unattractive.”
This wasn’t the first situation where Meghan’s reported behaviour left the late Queen feeling less than happy. Following the late Queen’s death in 2022, author Robert Hardman claimed that she was left “outraged” by Meghan and Harry’s “lie” about their daughter’s name.
In his book, Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story, Robert revealed that one member of staff had stated that the late Queen was “as angry as I’d ever seen her” after hearing that Meghan and Harry had claimed they’d received her blessing to name their daughter ‘Lilibet’ – a childhood nickname used by the late monarch and those dearest to her.
It was subsequently said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not have used the name if the monarch had not been “supportive”.
At the time, a spokesperson said: “The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement – in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called. During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.”
