Meghan Markle faces bullying claims ahead of tell-all Oprah interview
Meghan Markle has been accused of bullying at least two palace aides during her short tenure as a senior British royal.
Sources told the UK’s The Times that the Duchess of Sussex occasionally reduced staffers to tears when she lived at Kensington Palace following her May 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
In one alleged incident, a royal aide who had been anticipating a confrontation with Markle told a colleague: “I can’t stop shaking.”
Two senior members of the palace staff were allegedly bullied into leaving their jobs, the UK newspaper reported.
A third former aide said they had been personally “humiliated” by the former TV actress.
Another ex-staffer told The Times the situation felt “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I guess could also be called bullying”.
The couple’s communications assistant at the time, Jason Knauf, reported the behaviour in October 2018, seemingly in an effort to protect the staffers, the report said.
“I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X* was totally unacceptable,” the HR complaint read.
“The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights,” Knauf reportedly continued. “She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour towards Y.”
He added: “I remain concerned that nothing will be done.”
The paper’s sources said that Buckingham Palace was more concerned about making the situation go away instead of addressing it.
“Senior people in the household knew that they had a situation where members of staff, particularly young women, were being bullied to the point of tears,” one person said.
“The institution just protected Meghan constantly. All the men in grey suits who she hates have a lot to answer for, because they did absolutely nothing to protect people.”
A spokesperson for the Sussexes said Markle, 39, denied all claims of bullying, and was “saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself”.
The allegations come in advance of a tell-all interview the couple did with Oprah Winfrey – in which Markle is poised to claim that life in the royal family was “almost unsurvivable”.
She and Harry, 34, will speak about their decision to leave the royal family and move to California with their baby son, Archie.
This article originally appeared on Page Six and was reproduced with permission
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