Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s staff made brutal joke about Duke of Sussex
A royal expert has said that members of staff working for Harry and Meghan shortly after their wedding came up with an insider joke when referring to the Prince
Staff working for Prince Harry had an inside joke about the royal following his marriage to Meghan Markle in 2018.
The couple tied the knot in May of that year – and within a matter of months, employees had coined a phrase relating to Harry, according to a royal expert. Writing in his book Battle of the Brothers, author Robert Lacey lifted the lid on what went on behind the scenes in Harry and Meghan’s household, including allegations that Meghan had ‘bullied’ members of staff, which the couple have always strongly denied.
Lacey, historical consultant for The Crown, wrote that by October 2018, members of their team had already been allegedly coined a ‘half joke’ – #freeHarry. The timing is interesting; it’s alleged that during that same month, a complaint was first lodged against the Duchess. The bullying allegations only came to light in March 2021, when the Times reported that Meghan had bullied two staff members out of Kensington Palace. The publication stated that a complaint was lodged against the Duchess in October 2018, just five months after her wedding to Prince Harry in St George’s Chapel.
Jason Knauf, who worked as communications secretary to Harry and Meghan, is said to have claimed that the Duchess “drove two personal assistants out of the household and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member”. According to the Times, Knauff sent an email to Prince William’s then-private secretary Simon Case, in a move designed to get Buckingham Palace to protect staff that Knauff claimed “were coming under unbearable pressure from Meghan”. The article further claimed that Harry “pleaded” with him not to pursue the allegations during a meeting, which the Sussexes’ lawyer claims never happened.
However, a short time later Meghan denied all allegations of bullying, claiming she was in fact the victim of a “calculated smear campaign”. A statement issued by the Sussexes’ spokesperson read, “Let’s just call this what it is — a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.
“We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of the Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet. It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining the duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and the duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience of recent years.” The Times report came days before Harry and Meghan sat down for their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
