Skip To...
Meghan Markle’s “difficult” life as a royal duchess has been spotlighted in varying accounts by royal staff who once worked with her and Prince Harry. The Duchess of Sussex has faced bullying allegations since her days as a working royal. Her controversial royal exit and life in the United States forging fresh career paths have only intensified these claims, with more employees, past and present attesting to her “difficult” and “mean” nature.
Notably, this attitude which reportedly led several staff members to quit on her over the years with “survivors” story to tell, led Meghan to be dubbed scathing nicknames like “Eva,” and “Duchess Difficult.”
Meghan Markle Struggled to Understand the Royal Life
Speaking to The Times, one former royal staffer revealed that while the “Duchess Difficult” nickname did exist owing to Meghan Markle’s demanding nature when she first married Prince Harry, Royal staff did have some subtler nicknames for her. Additionally, these nicknames often arose from no fault of hers, considering how difficult it must have felt to become accustomed to a new life under the conservative monarchy.
In fact, the duchess’ “wokeness” in contrast with the more traditional royal life staff members were accustomed to, contributed to their ill perception of Meghan Markle as difficult. The former staff explained,
“Through absolutely no fault of her own, Meghan wasn’t always great with her staff — she just wasn’t used to it as Harry was.”
Going further, the employee noted that while Meghan Markle indeed had the nickname “Duchess Difficult” in the palace, royal staff members had other names for her. Some of these names stemmed from her being too American in her thoughts and beliefs. The source divulged,
“It’s true that her nickname for a while was the Duchess of Difficult, but she had other, friendlier nicknames, including Mystic Meg, which came about because she was so new agey, so woke, about so many things.”
Meghan’s Woke Influence on Harry Turned Royal Staff Against Her
Before long, Meghan Markle’s woke nature rubbed off on her husband Prince Harry, who became concerned about things he would usually overlook. Another former staff member claimed the prince became more concerned about “social issues and the rights of minorities.” This posed a problem for the older royal staffers more ingrained in the conservative royal traditions.
According to the source, this group of conservative employees perceived Harry’s new outlook on life as his rejection of “the values and traditions of his family.” However, this change resonated better with the younger staff who lauded the new Harry, and Meghan’s modernizing influence. The former staff explained,
“Some of the youngest staff at Kensington Palace would’ve applauded this, no doubt, but the older staff thought he’d become a tree-hugging leftie.”
Buttressing this point, another former employee added,
“When someone arrives from the United States and tries to change things, the old guard really don’t like it. And the old guard are terrific snobs. They have to be less obviously snobbish today, but it’s still there.”
As a result of this disparity, these older staff members had it in for Meghan, who did not hesitate to stand up to them even when the senior royals backed the courtiers. Explaining the “Duchess Difficult” nickname, a former royal staff attributed it to the awkwardness and hilarity experienced when Meghan Markle first entered the royal fold.
The staff acknowledged that the Suits alum could be difficult, and blew hot and cold when it came to dealing with staff. But that was only because the new royal herself was finding life difficult at the time, trying to navigate the intricacies of “a positively medieval, labyrinthine system.” Sadly, the duchess can’t so easily explain her way out of the ripple effects of her reaction to those “difficult” days, making her “bullying” reputation a permanent stain.
