DAN WOOTTON: ‘Sussex Survivor Squad’ are finally having their ‘truth’ about Harry and Meghan heard

Perhaps the greatest irony in the Sussex campaign to pretend to have been ‘silenced’ by the monarchy is that the very people who have the receipts to prove what really happened are themselves being silenced. imposed by law.

The Sussex Survivor Squad, as they call themselves now, is the band of once-loyal staffers who made a huge effort to keep Meghan Markle happy as a new member of the British royal family, only to see their efforts burned down by the Americans over and over again. actress and her deeply unhappy husband Prince Harry.

It’s easy to see why many of the formerly devoted courtiers are now convinced that the pair were on a self-destruct mission from day one, seeking some mild annoyance or apparent discrimination as a weapon against the institution that worked so hard to to appease them.

These staffers, many of whom have had personally devastating exits from the service of the Sussexes, have been unable to speak publicly, not even to correct the record, restricted by draconian confidentiality provisions of works for the royal family, including the Official Secrets Act.

But for the past three days, their stories have taken center stage in the latest round of the royal family fighting back against the Sussexes thanks to a bombshell book by the highly respected royal correspondent for The Times Valentine Low, who has diligently reported on the monarchy for a quarter. century.

While I’ve long been aware of the bitterness behind the scenes, it’s still shocking to read the words of the staffers, who were once willing to devote much of their lives to serving the Sussexes.

The most damning conclusion is that Meghan is a “narcissistic sociopath” who “played” her former advisers, but that’s just the beginning of the devastating claims.

While walking in Fiji, Meghan is said to have said, “I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this.”

It was like “working for a bunch of teenagers,” Low said of Samantha Cohen, their highly regarded private secretary who had been recommended by the Queen after years of faithful service.

And Meghan’s behavior had apparently been difficult and demanding from the start, including when she allegedly threatened to dump Harry unless he released his first statement splitting the media and confirming their relationship.

A source told Low: “She said: “If you don’t make a statement confirming that I’m your girlfriend, I’m going to break up.”

In fact, he reports, “keeping Meghan happy — and by extension, keeping Harry happy — was an ongoing challenge.”

Six months before their engagement was announced, Low claims Meghan ominously said to one of Harry’s courtiers, “I think we both know I’ll be one of your bosses soon.”

Once the wedding preparations began, Meghan’s behavior seemed to deteriorate. I was the first reporter to break the Tiaragate story, where Harry was warned by the Queen about Meghan’s way of speaking to close advisers, and the fact that Kate had gotten into an argument with her sister-in-law over Meghan’s treatment of staff at Kensington palace.

Low’s book tells of an occasion when Meghan was particularly abusive to a young female co-worker during a meeting and told her, “Don’t worry. If there was literally someone else I could ask this to, I’d ask them instead of you.’

When the courtier was later reassured by Prince William that she was “doing a very good job,” Low reports that she burst into tears.

Meghan made frequent phone calls to employees throughout the night, with one telling Low about a Friday night dinner: “Every ten minutes I had to go out to be yelled at by her and Harry. It was, “I can’t believe you did this. You let me down. What were you thinking?” It went on for a few hours. You couldn’t escape them. There were no lines or boundaries – it was the last thing at night, the first thing in the morning.’

An employee labeled Harry and Meghan “outrageous bullies” to another colleague when they considered quitting, who replied, “That’s so awful. And they’re bullies.’

During their time with the Royal Family, a large number of staff members left Harry and Meghan’s employment.

Among them were private secretaries Samantha Cohen and Amy Pickerill, two PAs, including Melissa Touabti, and two nannies.

At least ten former employees would like to testify in the formal investigation into the palace’s handling of complaints about Meghan’s alleged harassment, the findings of which have been hushed up by Buckingham Palace. Again, it is the courtiers who “silence themselves.”

That’s not the case for Meghan who described the bullying allegations as a “calculated smear campaign.”

Her attorney Jenny Afia added: “What bullying really means is the repeated and deliberate use of power to hurt someone physically or emotionally. The Duchess of Sussex adamantly denies that he ever did. Knowing her like me, I can’t believe she would ever do that. It just doesn’t match my experience with her.”

I feel that this book is a confirmation of years of reporting by myself and other top royal correspondents in which we have branded, quite unjustly, both racists and bullies by the Sussex Squad social media trolls simply because we understand the reality of the behavior from Harry and Meghan that culminated in revealing their decision to Megxit in January 2020.

Looking back, such a decision was now inevitable.

Low’s book reveals that Harry was terrified of becoming “a too-fugitive” once his cousin Prince George turned 18 and stole his thunder.

Meghan, meanwhile, according to a palace insider, “thought she was going to be the Beyonce of the UK.”

Such a toxic combination was a recipe for disaster.

The staff were treated so badly because they were the messengers who had to try to keep their aggrieved royals happy while working within the stifling rules of the royal family. In the end it turned out to be an impossible task.

But I’m of the opinion that Meghan never wanted this to work.

In the months before Megxit, I’d revealed that her Hollywood team was already negotiating commercial deals, including for her children’s book.

As a former staff member told Low, “Everyone knew the institution would be judged by its luck. The mistake they made was thinking she wanted to be happy. She wanted to be rejected because she was obsessed with that story from day one.”

As we’ve seen so many times before, just because it’s Harry and Meghan’s story doesn’t mean it’s true.

The real silent parties in this tawdry tale of the Sussexes vs. the royal family have now been heard by the world — and it sounds a lot more candid than what the couple told Oprah Winfrey.