Bombshell new book claims ‘dashing’ Duke of Sussex was turning into a ‘seedy old roué’ before Meghan

A new bombshell book has claimed that Prince Harry turned into a ‘seedy old roué’ before dating Meghan Markle.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, was also “quite a wild boy” and had a reputation as a party prince after a decade in the army, according to the new book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown.

It includes the prince allegedly playing air guitar with a pool cue naked at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas hotel in August 2012.

But the book says Harry has now firmly put that life behind him and is enjoying life in California with Meghan and their two young children Archie, three, and Lilibet, who was born last June.

Written by Valentine Low, it also describes how Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was hired on a part-time basis as private secretary to Harry and brother William before they became full-time working royals. the mirror reports.

For the young royal family he had to ‘steer a course through life’, although that was ‘more complex’ for Harry.

Low says: “The younger prince was a rambunctious figure, flying an Apache helicopter and strongly committed to children’s health, with charities like Well Child. But he used to be quite a wild boy too.

“When Harry was young, it was easy to forgive his transgressions. But at what point does a wild boy become a seedy old roué?

“Back then, it was nothing to worry about: just something to keep an eye on.

“In the end, of course, the problem would resolve itself, but not in the way Lowther-Pinkerton or anyone else had envisioned.

“The wild boy died the day Harry met Meghan Markle.”

The book was published yesterday and comes amid allegations that concerned royal staff said they were “feeling sick” before working with the Sussexes.

Mr Low, a Royal Times correspondent, made the claims during an appearance on Good Morning Britain promoting the book.

The book claims that a “paranoid” Prince Harry would conduct “loyalty tests” on the palace staff to make sure they were still “fighting for him.”

Mr Low also said the Duke of Sussex would look for signs of what he termed the ‘palace syndrome’, which showed staff had become ‘institutionalised’ within the royal household.

He claims the prince identified a “key symptom” as “giving in to the media,” something he claims the monarch “became obsessed” even before meeting Meghan Markle.

On Good Morning Britain, Mr Low addressed claims that royal staff who had worked with the Sussexes during their time as frontline royals had formed a group called the ‘Sussex Survivors’ Club’.

The claim was written in his new book, citing royal sources, who also claimed that associates called Meghan a “narcissistic sociopath” and repeatedly said they felt they were “played with.”

When asked by Susanna Reid, host of Good Morning Britain, if the staff had formed a ‘group’, the ‘Sussex Survivors’ Club’, he replied: ‘Absolutely, yes.’

Mrs. Reid replied, ‘What did they survive?’ Mr Low said: ‘I think it was a very difficult experience for some of them.

“As I revealed last year, there were allegations that Meghan had bullied the staff. People talked about people being completely destroyed.

“At the time, faced with a possible meeting with Meghan, I heard people say things like ‘I feel sick’ or ‘I’m shaking’ — extraordinary things for an employee to say about the prospect of leaving their employer in half an hour.”

However, Mr Low said there was a way that the courtiers were somehow responsible for the pair’s bitter ‘Megxit’ split in January 2020.

He said, “There’s a way the courtiers get the blame. So the people around them did their best, these were people who believed in Harry and Meghan and wanted to help.

“But there were signs early on, in the first year or so of their marriage, there were signs of how unhappy Harry and Meghan were.

“And nobody really did anything about it. Nobody took it, nobody noticed and there were no big discussions with the highest courtiers in the institution.’

However, he concluded that he thought it “wouldn’t have made any difference.”

He added: “(Because) what Harry and Meghan wanted and what the Royal Family, what the Queen could give, I don’t think there was ever a meeting point.”

Mr Low also spoke to Good Morning Britain about claims Prince Harry had carried out ‘loyalty tests’ on staff.

Mr Low said: ‘This had been brewing for a long time – before Meghan. Harry had an obsession with the media. He was so terribly unhappy.’

An excerpt from his book reads: ‘He would use this expression, ‘the palace syndrome’ all the time, when you don’t want to fight the battle he wants, because you are institutionalized.

“Giving in to the media was a key symptom of whether you had developed it.

It was a constant test of loyalty: ‘Are you going to protect me? Or have you just become one of those who won’t fight for me?’ It was exhausting.’

Mr Low has claimed that things only got worse when he started dating the Duchess.

He writes in his new book: ‘Harry’s obsession with the media; his sense of frustration at not achieving everything he could; his distrust of the courtiers in the other households; the constant loyalty tests of his own staff: this was all there before Meghan arrived on the scene.

“But if she showed up, it would be much worse.”