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Meghan, the “narcissistic sociopath”
Things got so bad between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their royal staff that they called her a “narcissistic sociopath.” They also reportedly said on repeated occasions: “We were played.”
The fresh revelations are contained in the second extract from the London Times royal correspondent Valentine Low’s new book, Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, in today’s Sunday Times.
The group of former staff even came up with a name for themselves, the “Sussex Survivors’ Club”; their key members were private secretary Sam Cohen, communications chief Sara Latham, and assistant press secretary Marnie Gaffney.
In the first extract published Friday, Low detailed the alleged bullying of staff undertaken by Meghan (and Harry)—denied emphatically by them—which reportedly left their staff “broken” and “shaking with fear.”
Part of the problem of dealing with Meghan’s alleged bullying, according to one source, was the supposed gentility and civility of palace staff (which Meghan would likely contest too). “When someone decides not to be civil, they have no idea what to do. They were run over by her, and then run over by Harry,” a source told Low.
Meghan had a bad relationship with Edward Young, the then-queen’s private secretary, and Clive Alderton, Charles’ private secretary.
“As things started to go wrong,” a source told royal biographer Robert Lacey, “Meghan came to perceive Young as the inflexible, bureaucratic figure who summed up what was [wrong] with the BP [Buckingham Palace] mentality, and the feeling was mutual. Young really came to dislike Meghan’s style.” Harry would send them “horrible emails.”
Former staff tell Low they believe Meghan manipulated and constructed the narrative herself of being rejected by royals to suit the later narrative she would tell after she and Harry had quit their roles as senior royals—including then claim she had considered suicide and been universally ignored when she sought help.
These staff, write Low, “came to be so disillusioned that they began to suspect that even her most heartfelt pleas for help were part of a deliberate strategy that had one end in sight: her departure from the royal family. They believe she wanted to be able to say ‘Look how they failed to support me.’”
Cohen particularly said it was vital that staff recorded the “duty of care” they had offered Meghan. When the duchess reported her concerns to HR, the staff were clueless as to why—HR was for staff matters, not members of the family. Meghan going to HR was seen as her “laying a trail of evidence.”
“Everyone knew that the institution would be judged by her happiness,” one former staff member told Low. “The mistake they made was thinking that she wanted to be happy. She wanted to be rejected, because she was obsessed with that narrative from day one.”
As reported by The Daily Beast Friday, sources indicate that King Charles will permanently “exile” Prince Harry, the “ruthless” blueprint being the total casting out by the royals of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.
