They’re calling it the “Sussex Survivors’ Club.” In just over four years since “Megxit” — when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left their positions as working royals and moved to Montecito, California — a whopping 18 high-level, experienced staff members have quit.
“Everyone’s terrified of Meghan. She’s absolutely relentless,” a source told The Hollywood Reporter in a bombshell Sept. 12 exposé. “She marches around like a dictator in high heels.”
And now she’s ready to declare war, a source tells In Touch. “These rumors of her being ‘Duchess Difficult’ have plagued Meghan for years, and she’s tired of the character assassinations,” the source says. “She’s striking back.”
Accusations of bullying by multiple staff members led to a palace investigation in 2021. The Sussexes denied the allegations, but because the results were never made public, “it’s seemingly Meghan’s word against theirs,” says the source. “Her supporters want her to tell her side of the story — and she just may do it.”
Shocking Claims Against Meghan Markle
She’ll have a lot to address. One former California staffer told The Hollywood Reporter that Meghan, 43, “belittles people” and “doesn’t take advice,” while another said the former actress would often be “fuming and barking orders. I’ve seen her reduce grown men to tears.”
Those claims are awfully similar to the complaints lodged against her by former aides in England. “Some of them have called her a demanding ‘control freak’ who terrorized the staff with 5 a.m. emails — some of them say they have PTSD from working with her,” says the source. “Others have accused her of being a liar for stories she’s believed to have leaked about family members like King Charles and Princess Kate, who were accused of being racist.”
The work environment was apparently so toxic that former Kensington Palace Press Secretary Jason Knauf felt compelled to report Meghan to higher-ups. “I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of [redacted] was totally unacceptable,” he wrote in a 2018 email. “The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying [redacted] and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior toward [redacted].”
In 2021, The Times of London reported on Knauf’s email and included stories from other staffers, one of whom recalled how they “[couldn’t] stop shaking” before a meeting with Meghan, and another who said her treatment felt “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation.”
Meghan’s lawyers responded that the newspaper was “being used to peddle a wholly false narrative,” which they characterized as a “calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.” Meghan, they added, was “saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”
Seeking the Truth About Meghan Markle
According to reports, 10 employees were interviewed, resulting in changes to the palace’s human resources department; but the details weren’t revealed. “Some people have suggested it’s because Charles and William didn’t want to stir up more drama with Harry and Meghan,” says the source. “But the Sussexes could argue it’s because Meghan didn’t do anything that bad.”
That’s what she’s been saying. The claims are “just not true,” Meghan said in a BBC documentary, but added that she “wouldn’t want to negate anyone’s personal experiences.” Her supporters have chalked the conflict up to an American versus British culture clash.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour — who has herself been famously labeled a boss from hell — even defended Meghan, saying she’s a “normal California girl who gets up early and does yoga and sends messages.” And in the “Angry Black Women” episodes of her Archetypes podcast, Meghan discussed misconceptions about her. She admitted she could be “particular” about making sure a job is done right, but argued that asking for exactly what you want “doesn’t make you demanding [or] difficult, it makes you clear.”
For his part, Harry — who was once accused of shouting, “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets,” to Queen Elizabeth’s personal assistant and was described to The Hollywood Reporter as “very much an enabler” — described a “poisoned atmosphere” in the office in his memoir, Spare.
There was no room for “constructive criticism,” Harry, 40, wrote, because any “feedback was seen as an affront. …. For all this, Willy blamed one person. Meg.”
Can he stand by her now? “The complaints from inside the Firm were one thing, but these are American employees leaving,” notes the source, “which is harder to ignore.”
And now that Meghan is launching her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, and a Netflix cooking show — not to mention Archewell’s campaign against online bullying — “they’ll be tempted to go on the attack to set the record straight,” says the source. “But that would mean getting into specifics, which could backfire by causing more people to tell all. The best solution might be to just concentrate on treating her staff really well in the future!”
