Meghan Markle left a ‘trail of evidence’ so she could ‘hijack the narrative’ following Megxit, royal author claims

While at long last relations between the Sussexes and the rest of the family appear to be thawing, for the staff that worked under Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the bad blood will likely remain.

Indeed, those who worked closest with the couple – who called themselves the Sussex Survivors’ Club – accused the couple of bullying during their brief period as working royals.

But they themselves then faced claims from Meghan that they had failed in their duty of care after the Duchess of Sussex said in her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey that there was a point during that time when she didn’t want to live anymore.

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]’.

And so Harry and Meghan’s former aide Samantha Cohen and key courtiers Sir Edward Young – the late Queen’s private secretary – and the King’s private secretary Sir Clive Alderton agreed that evidence would be gathered by the aides to quash any claims Harry and Meghan had not been properly looked after.

But 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 and the 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 last year that she was one of ten staff members interviewed by the Palace following the complaints.

Those who worked closest with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – dubbing themselves the Sussex Survivors’ Club – accused the couple of bullying during their brief period as working royals

Meghan during her Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021. Royal author Valentine Low claimed she ‘hijacked the narrative’ which at first quashed any complaints about her own behaviour

Former royal aide Samantha Cohen was aware of bullying allegations lodged against Harry and Meghan as early as 2018

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.

Pointing the finger at one member in particular, the couple alleged that the unnamed individual had speculated about the colour of their son Archie’s skin while Meghan was pregnant with him.

She recalled ‘concerns and conversations about how dark his skin would be when he was born. People were concerned with how dark Archie’s skin would be.’

A tense looking Harry confirmed this, saying he was the one who’d heard these comments and had told his wife.

But while the royal staff members’ shortcomings were broadcast for the world to see, Meghan’s own behaviour has also been in the spotlight.

In 2018, royal aide Jason Knauf – who at one time was exceptionally close to Harry and Meghan – sent an internal email raising concerns about Meghan’s alleged poor treatment of staff in the Royal Family, which was 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.

Sir Edward Young – the late Queen’s private secretary – worked with fellow courtiers to gather evidence that they had followed a duty of care with regards to Harry and Meghan

In 2018, royal aide Jason Knauf – who at one time was exceptionally close to Harry and Meghan – sent an internal email raising concerns about Meghan’s alleged poor treatment of staff in the Royal Family

Meghan and the late Queen Elizabeth with royal aide Ms Cohen sat behind them (centre)

‘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 quit the royal household after accusing the Duchess of Sussex of mistreating two colleagues and undermining their confidence.

According to royal author Robert Lacey, when Mr Knauf presented the Prince of Wales with a ‘dossier of distress’ about their behaviour he ‘went ballistic’ and was left ‘astonished’ and ‘horrified’ by what he heard.

William’s anger stemmed from the fact that a tradition of treating the staff ‘like family’ within the Royal Family had been broken and that he personally knew many of those named, Mr Lacey wrote.

Accusations that Meghan is difficult to work with have also plagued her career away from the Royal Family.

In May, MailOnline revealed that Meghan was ‘banned’ by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour from being on the cover of British Vogue in September 2022 after the magazine boss became ‘frustrated with all the Duchess of Sussex’s team’s micromanaging’, one source said.

And before she was even the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan was already starting to build a bad reputation among other magazine editors.

In September 2017, two months before her engagement to Harry was announced, Meghan graced the cover of Vanity Fair.

Accusations that Meghan is difficult to work with have also plagued her career away from the Royal Family

Mr Knauf quit the royal household after accusing the Duchess of Sussex of mistreating two colleagues and undermining their confidence

Writing in his biography about the staff who serve the royals – titled Courtiers – author Valentine Low said that the palace ‘needed evidence of the duty of care the organisation had showed them’

According to the then-editor of the magazine, Graydon Carter, the soon-to-be Duchess of Sussex challenged a reporter over why she was being asked about her relationship with the now-Duke of Sussex rather than her charity work.

Speaking to the New York Post, Mr Carter said Meghan asked the journalist: ‘Excuse me, is this going to all be about Prince Harry?

‘Because I thought we were going to be talking about my charities and my philanthropy.’

The former editor then admitted he had ‘no idea’ who Meghan was at the time and added that she was ‘slightly adrift on the facts and reality’.

Earlier this year, Mr Carter gave a simple but scathing takedown of Meghan during a discussion with Interview Magazine.

When asked about his thoughts on the Duchess, he called her ‘The Undine Spragg of Montecito’.

His reference was to the main character in The Custom Of The Country – a tragicomedy by author Edith Wharton published in 1913.

Harry and Meghan during their sit down interview with Oprah Winfrey, which many say only damaged their increasingly fraught relationship with the Royal Family further

The book tells the story of Spragg, a social climber who moves from the Midwest to New York to experience the high life.

Spragg then marries a man from Manhattan’s high society, but she’s never satisfied because of her greed and ambition, with some readers describing her as ‘vain, spoiled, and selfish’.

Two years later, Meghan guest-edited the September 2019 Forces For Change issue of British Vogue, which featured 15 ‘trailblazing change makers’ on its cover.

It became the fastest selling issue in the magazine’s 103-year history, selling out in ten days.

Among the advocates featured on the cover were Greta Thunberg, Sinead Burke, actors Gemma Chan and Jameela Jamil and New Zealand’s then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

But critics pointed out that the Queen was not among the 15 ‘women she admires’ featured, and neither were there any nurses, doctors, lawyers or teachers.

Three years later, the Duchess was due to appear on the cover of British Vogue at the same time as Meghan’s keynote appearance at the One Young World Summit in Manchester in September 2022.

Meghan with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour behind her at the 2019 US Open. According to a source, Ms Wintour banned Meghan from British Vogue’s cover once she got wind of the Duchess’s demands

The Duchess of Sussex was the guest editor on the 2019 September issue of British Vogue

A candid photograph released alongside the September cover pictures the Duchess in the workroom of the Smart Works office in London

But insiders from Conde Nast, Vogue’s parent company, claim it was abruptly pulled and scrapped completely.

An insider told MailOnline that Meghan was being ‘difficult about making it a cover’ and her team were ‘insisting on particular straplines’.

She then found herself at loggerheads with not only the editor of British Vogue, Edward Enninful, but the Queen of fashion magazines Anna Wintour.

The insider said: ‘Anna heard about it, and just like banned her and said: “That’s it. We don’t want to do this.”

‘And so [Meghan] didn’t get the cover, and I guess she didn’t even get the story. [British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful] probably agreed with Anna that you don’t get to call the shots on who’s on the cover. That’s absolutely an editor’s decision.

‘Anna was p***** off. Anna was like frustrated with all the micromanaging, and just was like: “All right. That’s it. She can’t have the cover and we’re not doing the story”.’

The source added that Meghan’s ‘level of desire for detail and control on the media is almost like Beyonce level… but she’s not Beyonce’.

However, the Duchess is said to have been relaxed with ‘no expectations’, although her team had ‘high expectations for the piece’ in Vogue.

The former editor of Vanity Fair Graydon Carter claimed Meghan challenged a reporter over why she was being asked about her relationship with the now-Duke of Sussex rather than her charity work for the magazine cover

‘Enninful was not in a position to meet those expectations. He already had a magazine cover in the bag for that month,’ Conde Nast insiders told the Mail On Sunday.

Shelving the project is said to have damaged Mr Enninful and the Duchess’s friendship. ‘Edward was furious to have lost the project, as were the powers that be at Conde Nast,’ a source told the MoS.

However, reports are conflicting.

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’.

The Duchess of Sussex has always denied the allegations of bullying, which she described as an orchestrated smear campaign against her.