Royal bomb set to drop
Plus: Whom Meg bullied
When it comes to Meghan Markle — who has cried that life in Britain with the royal family was so hard for her it was “almost unsurvivable” — who is doing the bullying? Why did 10 people flee employment at the palace under Meghan and Harry, and all in less than two years?
“Once people join ‘The Firm’ [as Buckingham Palace working operations are known] they tend to stay. The swift departure of Meghan’s aides raised eyebrows because it was so unusual,” Dawn Neesom, former editor of England’s Daily Star newspaper, told The Post. “No one pretends that working in a royal household is easy and dealing with ‘difficult’ personalities is par for the course. Prince Philip has never suffered fools and [Princess] Anne is her father’s daughter. They can be gruff and grumpy but they appreciate what the staff do and that it’s a tough job.
“Any form of bullying would be seen as totally beyond the pale though,” added Neesom, who has met the royal family on several occasions. “Working for the royals isn’t just a job or even a career. It’s a lifestyle — a long-term thing.”
The palace gates were blown open this past week, when CBS dropped clips of its upcoming Oprah Winfrey interview with the couple, premiering tonight, in which Meghan’s description of royal life is apparently so bad that Winfrey calls it “shocking.”
Within days, someone within Buckingham decided to fight back, and an HR complaint that had been filed in October 2018 by Meghan’s former head of communications, Jason Knauf, was revealed in the Times of London.
“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,” Knauf alleged in the complaint — adding that it hadn’t stopped.
“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 behavior towards Y.”
Some former employees are said to be referring to themselves as the “Sussex Survivors Club.”
A representative for the Sussexes told The Times that Harry and Meghan were victims of a “calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful information . . . The duchess is ‘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.”
The Post’s requests for comment were not returned by Harry and Meghan’s reps.
The day after the Knauf letter was revealed, the palace announced a probe into the Markle bullying allegations; within hours, CBS dropped another clip from the Oprah interview in which Markle said the palace “perpetuated falsehoods” about the couple. “And if that comes with the risk of losing things,” she adds, “there’s a lot that’s been lost already.”
JJ Anisiobe, formerly of OK! Magazine and a senior reporter for the upcoming British entertainment news show “News To Me,” told The Post: “A source close to the royals told me, ‘It wouldn’t be a stretch to think not everyone got along with Meghan and there were clashes with staff.’ ”
But, Neesom warned, with this interview, the couple will be opening a Pandora’s box they can’t shut.
“Now Meghan had Harry have exposed this themselves and the royals have no choice but to follow up allegations, even if only for official Human Resources and employment reasons,” Neesom said.
“It’s a mess that has opened up a festering wound that will never be healed. No matter what Harry does now — or what happens in the Sussexes’ marriage — there will be no way back from this.”
In fact, a source told The Mirror: “A group of people are queuing up to be involved. They have been silent for too long and there is much to talk about.”
Here are the people Buckingham investigators might be talking to.
Angela Kelly, Queen Elizabeth’s dresser
While Kelly is still at the palace, in May 2018, the Queen’s longtime dresser was allegedly screamed at by Prince Harry during “Tiara Gate” — in which Meghan wanted to wear an emerald tiara rather than the Queen Mary tiara that Queen Elizabeth had chosen for her. Harry is said to have yelled at Kelly: “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets!” Meghan ended up wearing the Queen’s choice.
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge
Prior to the wedding, according to the Daily Mail, Middleton was upset by the way Meghan treated her staff and “had
told Meghan she shouldn’t speak to her staff so dismissively. Then, during a “stressful” dress fitting for the Sussex wedding in May 2018, “Meghan Markle left Kate Middleton in tears over her demands for Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress,” according to The Sun.
Katrina McKeever, Harry and Meghan’s senior communications secretary
McKeever “led media operations for the wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle in May 2018,” according to the Web site of Crest Advisory, where she is now a Senior Advisor. McKeever also “planned and delivered complex media operations for official overseas visits by members of The Royal Family” before leaving quietly just four months after the couple’s wedding in September 2018 — an unusually short tenure. Melissa Toubati, Meghan’s personal assistant
Toubati had previously worked for both Robbie Williams and Madonna — known for being outspoken — but quit the palace after just six months.
It is thought that Toubati is likely one of the women referred to in Knauf ’s official HR report and, according to the Mirror,
“Meghan put a lot of demands on her and it ended up with her in tears.” Toubati “played a ‘pivotal role in the success of the Royal Wedding’ [but] ditched her plum appointment after putting up with a lot,” The Sun reported.
After leaving the Sussexes in November 2018, Toubati now works for billionaire Richard Livingstone and his wife. Amy Pickerill, Meghan’s assistant private secretary
Pickerill quit working for the Sussexes in March 2019, after just one year and seven months. She was on the infamous Royal tour to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji during which Markle is said to have made one of her staffers cry, according to eyewitness accounts by a Daily Mail reporter who was on the tour. At the time of her quitting, sources said Pickerill was leaving as she was moving abroad. But Pickerill came back to the family, just not with Meghan: She is currently Director of The Earthshot Prize at The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Jason Knauf, former head of p.r.
The same month Pickerill left, Meghan and Harry’s senior p.r. person bolted. Knauf, who oversaw the couple’s wedding, was so concerned by Meghan’s behavior toward her staff — particularly female employees — he filed a complaint, bringing to light former aides’ accusations of Meghan’s “emotional cruelty and manipulation,” which reduced them to tears and left them “shaking” with fear. He left Harry and Meghan to work with William and Kate and is currently a “senior adviser” with the Cambridges’ charities.
Samantha Cohen, Harry and Meghan’s private secretary
After 17 years of working with the royal family, Cohen called it quits as the Sussexes’ private secretary in October 2019 — despite having had a previously close relationship with Harry. Cohen was also on the infamous Australia tour. It is Cohen that Knauf is said to be referring to in his now infamous HR letter, when he wrote: “I questioned if the Household policy on bullying and harassment applies to principals [the term used to refer to a member of the royal family].” One source told the Daily Mail: “Sam always made clear that it was like working for a couple of teenagers. They were impossible and pushed her to the limit. She was miserable.” Cohen is now the chairman of the board of trustees for the charity Cool Earth.