When Meghan Markle became engaged to Prince Harry, she was warmly welcomed into the Royal Family – and by the British public generally.
Thousands lined the streets of Windsor on that sunny day in May 2018 when the couple exchanged vows at St George’s Chapel.
The media, meanwhile, gushed about how the beautiful, mixed-race actress from America would breathe new life into the ancient institution that is the British monarchy.
So, I was surprised later that year when I started to hear whispers that all was not well behind the scenes.
Keen to avoid bursting the bubble of positivity that surrounded Meghan and Harry, who was at that time the most popular of all the royals, I didn’t publish anything in my social diary, Eden Confidential, until rumours of discord became hard fact.
In November 2018, I received a tip that Meghan’s personal assistant, Melissa Toubati, had suddenly quit just six months after the royal wedding, which she had helped organise.
‘It’s a real shock,’ a source told me at the time. ‘Why would she want to leave such a prestigious job so soon?’
Officials usually decline to discuss staffing matters, so I was taken aback when a senior source at the Palace chose to praise the assistant publicly.
Meghan’s former PA Melissa Toubati, who quit the role just six months after the royal wedding she helped to organise
To Prince William, ‘the Sussexes are increasingly irrelevant ghosts from the past’, writes RICHARD EDEN
‘Melissa is a hugely talented person,’ said the source.
‘She played a pivotal role in the success of the royal wedding and will be missed by everyone in the Royal Household.’
For someone to go out of their way to pay such fulsome tribute suggested that Melissa’s colleagues were not happy with her departure.
And the fact she left so suddenly raised questions about the reasons for her exit.
Indeed, it later emerged in a leaked email that Jason Knauf, who was communications secretary to both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Prince William and Catherine, had written to Simon Case, William’s then private secretary, in 2018 to say: ‘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 added: ‘The duchess seems intent on 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.’
The names of ‘X’ and ‘Y’ were never made public.
Last week, Jason Knauf was announced as the next chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, William’s environmental project. A leaked email from Mr Knauf revealed Meghan’s bullying
Melissa’s exit proved to be the first of many departures from Harry and Meghan’s staff in the years that followed.
It’s been hard to keep track, but the total number of employees the Sussexes have lost since they married in 2018 is thought to be about 20, with around ten having left since Harry and Meghan moved to California two years later after quitting royal duties.
Knauf stopped working for the Sussexes in 2019 but continued to be employed by William and Catherine for another three years before he moved abroad.
Last week, Knauf was named the next chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, William’s flagship environmental project.
The appointment comes just a few weeks since Knauf spoke publicly for the first time about the leaked 2018 email in which he accused the duchess of ‘bullying staff out of the royal household’ and said he had ‘no regrets’ about his claims.
Asked by Australia’s 60 Minutes television show if he would have done anything differently, Knauf said: ‘No.’
William’s decision to hand Knauf such an important role will no doubt horrify Harry and Meghan.
But that will not worry the heir to the throne, to whom the Sussexes are increasingly irrelevant ghosts from the past.
This Earthshot appointment is clear evidence, if it were needed, that William has no plans for a reunion with his brother and sister-in-law any time soon.
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