Doubts on life in court of Meghan
As bodyguard quits, Camilla Tominey looks at rumours behind Duchess of Sussex’s high staff turnover
The plan was for her to be Meghan’s righthand woman, the bodyguard heading up the Sussexes’ royal protection team as they prepare to start family life.
But the departure of the unnamed blonde who has been guarding the Duchess of Sussex since her marriage to Prince Harry has, once again, sent royal tongues wagging that life in the court of Meghan is trickier than first thought.
The resignation of the Metropolitan Police “tec” comes after the former actress’ personal assistant, Melissa Touabti, left her post in November after six months.
Then private secretary Samantha Cohen — who took over from Edward Lane Fox, who had held the position for five years for Prince Harry — also said she was leaving, although the former assistant private secretary to the Queen had always said she’d work for the Sussexes on a temporary basis while they found a permanent replacement.
So, are there really tensions at the heart of Meghan’s staff?
While nicknames such as “Hurricane Meghan” and “Duchess Difficult” appear to be tabloid inventions, it is fair to say the former Suits star’s introduction to royal life has not been plain sailing.
While a Scotland Yard source revealed the “wellrespected” and “brilliant” bodyguard was leaving “for personal reasons” that have “absolutely nothing to do with the Duke or the Duchess”, it has been said Meghan’s desire to be seen as “one of the people” has presented challenges to her protection team.
One insider said: “In her current role she can’t go anywhere without her protection team, and that’s a massive constraining force on an individual like her.”
The inspector, who was armed with a gun and a Taser while on duty, replaced Prince Harry’s long-term head of security, Sergeant Bill Renshaw, who retired last year after 31 years in the police. In October, she helped rush the Duchess out of a solo visit to a market in Fiji.
Meghan was meeting female entrepreneurs but was whisked away after only eight minutes. Kensington Palace said it was due to “crowd management issues” in the heat, although onlookers said the crowd was under control.
Ken Wharfe, Diana Princess of Wales’ former bodyguard, wondered if there had been a breakdown in trust between the two women after that.
“Royals constantly complain of a lack of freedom — I remember Diana complaining about it all the time — but there’s loads of things you can do if you’ve got confidence in each other.”
It is worth noting the officer is leaving the Met altogether. Had Meghan been the problem, she could have stayed in royalty protection but looking after a different member of the family.
Still, the departures have prompted claims that the Prince, 34, and his wife, 37, have not endeared themselves to staff, with the sixth in line to the throne reportedly telling members of the royal household in the run-up to last May’s wedding: “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.”
As one former royal aide told the Daily Telegraph: “What we’ve seen is a clash of cultures, rather than a serious falling out between anyone.
“There is a great deal of goodwill towards Harry, but Meghan is still a bit of an unknown quantity.”
There has certainly been some anti-Americanism expressed “below stairs” with some in the more cattier quarters “giving it five years” amid suggestions Harry is “punching above his weight”.
Intellectual Meghan, who graduated from Northwestern, one of America’s best universities, is certainly no slouch, which perhaps explains her reported 5am wake-up calls and email “bombardments” of staff. According to one insider: “The Duchess is determined to get across her royal brief as soon as possible so she can start really making a difference.”
But what is typical in Hollywood is not necessarily the norm in the “household”, where there’s an established hierarchy and a “way of doing things”. Carving out the life of a royal wife, as the Duchess of Cambridge discovered during her 10-year courtship with Prince William, is very much a marathon and not a sprint.
Indeed, Meghan would be wise to heed the advice of her idol, former first lady Michelle Obama, who last year advised: “Take some time and don’t be in a hurry to do anything.” She spent the first few months in the White House mainly settling inher daughters.
With Meghan’s baby due in the northern spring, the focus will inevitably switch to family matters, and motherhood may well bring the duchesses closer together. Their relationship did not get off to the best start after a row during a bridesmaids’ dress fitting for Princess Charlotte.
As the Telegraph revealed, the Duchess of Cambridge, who had only just given birth to Prince Louis, was left in tears by Meghan, who herself had been left in tears by father Thomas Markle’s behaviour in the run-up to the wedding.
The incident happened around the time that Meghan was reported to have “upset” the Queen by asking to wear an emerald tiara instead of the one offered by the 92-year-old monarch.
It was also around the same time that a book by veteran royal journalist Robert Jobson described Prince Harry as “petulant and short-tempered” in the run-up to the nuptials, prompting “Granny [to] put him firmly in his place”.
The Duchesses’ easy demeanour as they walked together to St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham on Christmas Day suggests that they have put the alleged rift firmly behind them. Indeed, rumours that Meghan had been “snubbed” from her sister-in-law’s 37th birthday party at Anmer Hall, the Cambridges’ Norfolk home, are wide of the mark.
In fact, the Sussexes were abroad at the time.
While the brothers have many mutual friends from their Ludgrove and Eton days, it’s true to say that the Cambridges and the Sussexes are very different couples who are at very different stages of their lives.
Extroverts Harry and Meghan are far more sociable than William and Catherine, who have got three children under 5, and prefer the quiet life away from London at their 10-bedroom bolthole on the Sandringham estate.
Ironically, while the Sussexes’ decision to leave Kensington Palace for Frogmore Cottage this year has been attributed to a fallingout between the Fab Four, it is actually more to do with Harry wanting to replicate the rural idyll that William has created for his own brood.
Both couples regard Kensington Palace as a “goldfish bowl” — hence Harry and Meghan’s decision to take a two-year lease on a £2.5 million ($4.7m), four-bedroom farmhouse in the Cotswolds, which they intend to keep on even after the multi-millionpound renovations on their Windsor home are completed.
“Once the Sussexes’ baby is born, there will be more time for bonding between the couples,” said one royal source.
Could a supernanny also hold the key to soothing royal tensions? With her female bodyguard having quit, and still no news on who will replace her female personal assistant and female private secretary, Meghan is desperately in need of a Woman Friday.
Reports that the Sussexes are hiring American childcare expert Connie Simpson to raise their newborn could give Meghan exactly what she needs — a close confidante to form the backbone of her new royal court.
There is a great deal of goodwill towards Harry, but Meghan is still a bit of an unknown quantity. Former royal aide