Queen Elizabeth Once Scolded Meghan Markle For How She Treated Royal Staff: 'We Don't Speak To People Like That'
Queen Elizabeth II allegedly reprimanded Meghan Markle over her treatment of royal staff before she even officially joined the royal family.
Since quitting royal duties in 2020, Markle has faced allegations that she bullied palace staff during her time as a working royal.
While Markle has denied these accusations, Vanity Fair royal correspondent Katie Nicholl previously claimed that the Duchess of Sussex's "direct approach" once earned her a dressing-down from Queen Elizabeth II.
In the 2022 biography, "The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown," Nicholl claimed an unnamed royal insider revealed that the late monarch scolded Markle during a menu-tasting in Windsor Castle ahead of the former "Suits" star's wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.
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Queen Elizabeth was allegedly not happy when Markle had a tense exchange with one of the caterers over a dish meant to be served at her wedding reception.
"Meghan was at the castle to taste some of the dishes, and told one of the caterers she could taste egg," Nicholl quoted the source as saying, according to an excerpt published by the Daily Mail. "She got quite upset, saying that the dish was meant to be vegan and macrobiotic."
According to the insider, it was at this point that "the Queen walked in and said, 'Meghan, in this family, we don't speak to people like that.'"
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As early as 2018, there have been reports that some in the royal family did not approve of how Markle approached royal life.
An unnamed source told Entertainment Tonight at the time that the duchess' "rather direct approach" did not "sit well" with royal staffers and sometimes caused disagreements with Prince William and Kate Middleton.
However, the insider denied claims that Markle was difficult to work with.
Three years later, however, The Times of London reported that the Sussexes' former communications secretary had filed an official bullying complaint against Markle in October 2018.
The complaint alleged that Markle reduced staff to tears, "drove two personal assistants out of the household, and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member."
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The allegations, which surfaced just days before Markle and Prince Harry's bombshell sit-down with Oprah Winfrey aired, were dismissed by the Duchess of Sussex as "a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation."
Buckingham Palace launched an investigation into the allegations but later chose to keep the results of the probe private.
The bullying claims returned to the spotlight last month after Markle's former royal aide Samantha Cohen broke her silence and revealed to Herald Sun that she was one of the staff interviewed as part of the palace's investigation.
While Cohen did not share details about the probe, she suggested that Markle and Prince Harry had trouble hiring and retaining staff during their time as working royals.
