Meghan Markle was so rude to a royal gardener that the late Queen Elizabeth II was forced to intervene, a royal insider has claimed.
The shocking allegation is one of number of complaints lodged against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex which claims they are difficult to work with and often bully members of staff.
According to esteemed royal historian Hugo Vickers, there was ‘trouble’ while Harry and Meghan were living at Frogmore Cottage – close to Windsor Castle – between 2019 and March 2020.
In one incident, the Duchess of Sussex was so rude to an under gardener that the head gardener in Windsor felt the need to complain to the late Queen, who then drove over to Meghan to give her a dressing down.
‘The head gardener went to complain to the Queen and she told her off because she obviously didn’t like people being rude to staff,’ Mr Vickers told The Sun.
Meghan has developed a reputation in the workplace for being difficult to work with.
In September 2024, an unnamed source told the Sunday Times that they witnessed ‘people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s***’.
Another source claimed that Meghan ‘screamed’ at a florist down the phone for half an hour after they failed to mention in a post online that the Duchess of Sussex was working with them on a bouquet.
The Duchess of Sussex was allegedly so rude to an under gardener that the head gardener in Windsor felt the need to complain to the late Queen, who then drove over to Meghan to give her a dressing down
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in 2022. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have faced allegations they bully members of staff and are difficult to work with
Windsor Castle where Meghan allegedly berated an under gardener
Earlier this year, a bombshell profile in Vanity Fair claimed that Meghan would reportedly be ‘warm and effusive’ towards employees at the start before turning ‘cold and withholding toward the person she perceived to be responsible’ when something ‘went poorly, often due to Meghan and Harry’s own demands’.
A source who worked in media projects told the publication: ‘She’s constantly playing checkers – I’m not even going to say chess – but she’s just very aware of where everybody is on her board.
‘And when you are not in, you are to be thrown to the wolves at any given moment,’ which they say meant ‘undermining’ behaviour, adding: ‘It’s talking behind your back. It’s gnawing at your sense of self. Really, like, Mean Girls teenager.’
The profile also details allegations from former employees of Meghan who reportedly felt mistreated during their time working with her.
These claims, which echoes accusations from her time at Kensington Palace, paint a troubling picture of a woman whose behaviour allegedly left staff ‘having therapy’ and led to allegations of ‘bullying’ behind the scenes. These allegations were vehemently denied by representatives of Meghan and Harry at the time.
However, other reports about Meghan’s behaviour have claimed she is not so difficult to work with.
Producer Jane Marie, who worked with Harry and Meghan during 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 end her employees gifts ranging from dog leashes to skincare products.
Meghan with the Queen during an event in June 2018. A profile of the Duchess of Sussex said the Meghan would reportedly be ‘warm and effusive’ towards employees at the start before turning ‘cold and withholding toward the person she perceived to be responsible’
Meghan on the set of her Netflix show ‘With Love, Meghan’. Former former employees of the Duchess of Sussex reportedly felt mistreated during their time working with her
Frogmore Cottage in Windsor where Harry and Meghan lived before they stepped down as working royals and moved to California
These wildly varying accounts of the work culture Meghan precedes over are supported by a source that worked with Meghan in the run-up to her wedding who said that she was ‘lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns’.
It is not only the Duchess of Sussex who has faced allegations of workplace bullying.
This year, Prince Harry has been accused of ‘harassment and bullying at scale’ by the chair of a charity he helped set up.
In March, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho resigned from their roles as patrons of Sentebale due to a dispute between the charity’s chair Dr Sophie Chandauka.
She reported Sentebale to the Charity Commission over issues including abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism.
In a joint statement, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso said they were resigning from their roles with ‘heavy hearts’ and in ‘solidarity with the board of trustees’.
The charitable foundation has been close to his heart since his gap year when he fell in love with Lesotho while volunteering in an orphanage. He soon founded Sentebale with Prince Seeiso.
It gave Harry a mission, which he saw as an extension of his late mother’s work. He often said he was committed for life.
Prince Harry and the chair of Sentebale Dr Sophie Chandauka. Prince Harry has been accused of ‘harassment and bullying at scale’ by Dr Chandauka
Harry and Meghan on their wedding day in May 2018. In the run up to the big day a source said that Meghan was ‘lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns’
Other reports about Meghan’s behaviour have claimed she is not so difficult to work with
Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Hugo Vickers claimed that the Sentebale row has the hallmarks of how difficult Harry and Meghan can be as employers, which we have seen before.
He also highlighted examples of staff quitting, sometimes abruptly or at key moments, as for example when John Kettler, their chief of staff, left on the eve of their visit to Colombia.
Working royals have a back-up team to advise them. The Sussexes are forging a lone path.
Presumably when things go well, all is well in the office. But when they don’t, tension builds and tempers fray.
There are rumours of bullying in the workplace, and no doubt some of these are well-founded.
The fall-out with Sentebale, it seems, only cements the suspicion they are not easy people to work with. The Sussex brand is now tainted – if it wasn’t already – which the chair of Sentebale Dr Sophie Chandauka appeared to have twigged when she refused a request by Harry’s team to defend Meghan following negative stories in the media.
The Duchess has strived to separate her personal brand from Harry, who is practically invisible in her later ventures.
But their brands are entwined, what damages one will inevitably damage the other.
