Meghan Markle aides who accused her of bullying were frightened of 'what she would do to them' because of her 'infinite capacity for revenge', veteran royal correspondent claims

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Royal aides who accused Meghan Markle of bullying were frightened of 'what she would do to them' after they spoke out, it was claimed today.
The Duchess of Sussex's staff were left 'in a psychologically delicate state' and 'viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', an expert has alleged.
Meghan, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying while she was working as a royal, which she described as an orchestrated smear campaign against her.
Veteran royal correspondent Valentine Low broke the bullying story in May 2021, just before Harry and Meghan were to appear on screen with Oprah Winfrey to discuss Megxit.
He claims that some of the royal staff who had worked with the Sussexes were still in a 'very fragile state' more than two years later - and despite the royal couple having emigrated 5,000 miles away to the US.
'They were very worried about what Meghan would do to them. They viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', Mr Low said.
'They'd left the employ of the Royal Family and they still were in a psychologically delicate state as a result of what happened to them at that time'.
He added: 'If they [the Sussexes] were difficult to work for then, they're difficult to work for now'.
Mr Low was speaking to American royal commentator Kinsey Schofield's Unfiltered YouTube show.
He told her that he believes that Harry and Meghan tried to stop and then discredit his story detailing allegations of bullying, adding that he believes that the fact they have lost 25 staff since 2017 shows they remain tough to work for.
''It was a very important factor, the litigious nature of Harry and Meghan. I had sight of various bits of documentary evidence. I saw things which totally backed up the story. I had utter confidence', he said.
'Before publication we put the allegations to Harry and Meghan and we got a very very long letter from their lawyers. Sometime later we got another slightly less long letter from their lawyers. It was very very feisty, very strong, saying basically "watch out".
'Then we published and after that we didn't hear a word from them'.
Valentine said the story had to be published before the Oprah interview.
'If the story had come out after the Oprah interview, it would have just looked like sour grapes. It'd be lost in the noise. Meghan would come across as this this heroine, this person who'd been victimised', he said.
'The whole narrative would be about what she and Harry said about their experiences with the royal family. It would just get lost and no one would really care.
'You look back to the Diana years. Stories had come out that the marriage was in trouble. No-one knew for certain until Andrew Morton's book came out. People then realised that it was the truth.
'That is what happened with my bullying story'.
He said when a newspaper ran the Meghan bullying story and 'doesn't get sued' it means 'there's probably something in it and suddenly you realise all those tabloid stories earlier suggesting she might be Duchess Difficult, actually maybe they're true'.
A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused Mr Low of 'recycling false, offensive, and long-discredited allegations' and spreading 'harmful gossip'.
'These claims—rooted in anonymous, unverifiable sources—form part of a broader and deeply troubling agenda that seeks to dehumanise a woman who has consistently stood up for fairness, dignity, and truth', they said.
The spokesman said Meghan 'has faced years of unfounded attacks' part of a 'never-ending smear campaign'.
'Meghan remains undeterred by the noise and firmly focused on her family and work', the spokesman said.
Jason Knauf, who is CEO of Prince William's Earthshot Prize, was once exceptionally close to the exiled couple.
The New Zealander was one of just two people Harry told he was proposing to Meghan before they fell out over the Duchess' alleged poor treatment of staff.
He and his colleagues have since been dubbed the 'Sussex Survivors'.
He quit the royal household after accusing the Duchess of Sussex of mistreating two colleagues and undermining their confidence.
Meghan has been haunted by claims she bullied royal staff - and Mr Knauf has repeatedly stood by his claims.
In February this year, Jason insisted he 'wouldn't change a thing' and has 'no regrets' after he accused Meghan Markle of bullying staff 'out of the royal household'.
In his first TV interview he stood by his complaint about the alleged 'totally unacceptable' behaviour of the Duchess of Sussex that leaked just before the couple's Oprah interview in 2021.
'The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights', he had written in an 2018 email where he accused Meghan of 'bullying' and undermining the confidence of two staff.
Harry later addressed the bullying claims in the Sussexes' Netflix docu-series, saying it was false and all the result of him and Meghan speaking truth to power.
'I can't think what my mum went through all those years ago by herself', he said.
'To see this institutional gaslighting that happens, it's extraordinary. And that's why everything that has happened to us was always going to happen to us because if you speak truth to power, that's how they respond'.
Jason quit the royal household in 2021 but in April this year Prince William made him CEO of his beloved Earthshot Prize.
Mr Knauf, a New Zealander who worked as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's press secretary, appeared in a new documentary for 60 Minutes Australia, Where There's A Will - broadcast four months ago.
In 2018, he had sent an internal email raising concerns about Meghan's alleged poor treatment of staff in the royal family, which was later leaked after Megxit.
'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,' he allegedly wrote.
'The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. 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 also said the estrangement between Prince Harry and Prince William has been 'hard and sad' but added that William has chosen to be 'private' about it.
Jason was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 2023 - showing how good the relationship still is.
And then he returned to work for William this year.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying, which she described an orchestrated smear campaign against her.
Harry and Meghan's spokesman said at the time: 'Let's just call this what it is-a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.'
There was also a statement to the media calling the bullying claims defamatory.
Buckingham Palace launched an internal review into the bullying claims, but the findings were never made public.
Prior to their disagreement, Jason said he'd had 'great times' working with the Sussexes, and said their 2018 Windsor wedding was a 'magical experience'.
He said: 'We had lots of great times, working on their wedding was an amazing magical experience and I wish them absolutely all the best with their lovely family.'
Writing in his biography about the staff who serve the royals - titled Courtiers - author Valentine Low said the palace 'needed evidence of the duty of care the organisation had showed them [the Sussexes]'.
Mr Low wrote that Meghan was already leaving a 'trail of evidence behind, so that when the time came for them [Harry and Meghan] to leave the monarchy, she would be able to say: look how they failed to support me'.
Such as when Meghan went to HR for help and was given a 'sympathetic hearing' but the department was ultimately there to deal with 'employee issues, not members of the Royal Family'.
Samantha Cohen and other courtiers were aware of bullying allegations lodged against the Sussexes as early as 2018.
'Samantha The Panther', as she was known, told Australian media that she was one of ten staff members interviewed by the Palace following the complaints.
However, it was Meghan that won in the battle to air her grievances first when - according to Mr Low - she 'hijacked the narrative by making it all about her mental health' and all the things royal staff had done to help the couple succeed were forgotten, allowing Meghan to point out all the times they had failed her.
These failures were then singled out for millions to see during the Sussexes' interview with Oprah in 2021.
Among her claims that concerns about her mental health were not taken seriously by staff, the couple also said separately that the Royal Family was racist.
Producer and journalist Jane Marie, who worked with Harry and Meghan during the development of Archewell Audio projects, insisted to Vanity Fair that Meghan is 'just a lovely, genuine person'.
Other staff members have claimed that she would send her employees gifts ranging from dog leashes to skincare products.
These wildly varying accounts of the work culture Meghan presides over are supported by a source that worked with her in the run-up to her wedding in 2018, who said she was 'lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns'.