Prince Harry ‘feared he would become a has-been once his nephew George turned 18’

The Duke of Sussex was ‘fixated’ about becoming a has-been once his nephew Prince George turned 18, a new book claims.

It alleges Harry, before he met Meghan, had a ‘long-held’ fear’ that he would be an ‘also-ran’.

This apparently compounded the frustration he felt when aides talked him down from things he wanted to do separately from William and Kate, the book says.

Extracts of Courtiers: the Hidden Power Behind the Crown by Valentine Low were published by The Times last night.

The book also makes claims about Meghan’s treatment of staff. On one occasion the Duchess of Sussex is said to have strongly criticised a plan drawn up by a young female employee in front of colleagues.

William later tried to comfort the unnamed staff member by saying she was doing a good job and the woman burst into tears.

After Meghan and Harry married, Samantha Cohen, the Queen’s former assistant private secretary, joined their team as their interim private secretary.

The book quotes a source saying that she too was ‘bullied’ and nothing she did was ever good enough for the couple.

Extracts claim a source once said: ‘Sam [Cohen] always made clear that it was like working for a couple of teenagers. They were impossible and pushed her to the limit. She was miserable.’

The duchess’s lawyers denied in 2021 that Miss Cohen had been bullied, saying that the couple were always grateful for her support and dedication.

They have also long described such allegations as ‘massively inaccurate’ and that the duchess has ‘absolutely denied’ bullying anyone. 

While an inquiry launched by Buckingham Palace concluded that it would review how it handled bullying complaints, it did not say that the duchess had actually bullied anyone.

The book also tells how Meghan clashed with her personal assistant Melissa Touabti over free gifts including clothes, jewellery and candles that some companies sent to the duchess.

Ms Touabti, who quit just six months after joining the palace, followed the rule that members of the Royal Family cannot accept gifts from commercial organisations, but the book claims her approach ‘did not go down well with Meghan’. 

The book is due to be published on October 6 by Headline Books.

In June, Buckingham Palace effectively buried a report into allegations of bullying by the Duchess of Sussex. 

Royal aides admitted for the first time the findings would never be made public.

A source told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘People suspected it would be buried, and now it seems that it has.’ 

The Daily Mail understands that even those who took part in the inquiry haven’t been told what the outcome is. 

Palace officials would confirm only that their investigation had concluded and ‘recommendations on our policy and procedures’ had been taken forward.

Royal aides announced in March last year that they were launching an inquiry into claims that Meghan’s ‘belittling’ behaviour while a working member of the Royal Family drove two female personal assistants out of the household and ‘undermined the confidence’ of a third.

Staff were said to have been left in tears and feeling ‘traumatised’ – with some likening their condition to having post-traumatic stress.

The Royal Household employed a third-party law firm, paid for by the family privately, to probe the claims in a move that some predicted could increase tensions between Harry and Meghan and ‘the institution’.

The allegations have always been strongly denied by the duchess, whose lawyers described them at the time as a ‘calculated smear campaign’.

Last year a palace spokesman made clear that the specifics of the allegations – which were brought to the attention of senior household staff at the time by Harry and Meghan’s concerned press secretary, Jason Knauf – would not be investigated.

But they said they would investigate how the ‘historic allegations of bullying’ were handled by officials and whether any changes to their HR policies and procedures should be instigated as a result.

A spokesman confirmed that ‘if’ those findings were to be made public, they would be included in this year’s Sovereign Grant report – the official annual review into the royal household’s public finances.

But announcing the report yesterday, the Master of the Privy Purse, Sir Michael Stevens, said of the investigation: ‘There is nothing on this in the report.

‘As we said last year, this work was undertaken privately and had no Sovereign Grant money spent on it.

‘The review has been completed and recommendations on our (HR) policy and procedures have been taken forward. But we will not be commenting further.’

Furious Prince Harry ‘SNUBBED dinner with King Charles and William at Balmoral after bust-up when monarch banned Meghan from joining grieving royal family at Scottish estate the day The Queen died – causing the duke to miss his flight’ 

By MATTHEW LODGE FOR MAILONLINE

The Duke of Sussex snubbed dinner with King Charles III and his brother the Prince of Wales at Balmoral after a row with his father when the new monarch banned Meghan Markle from joining the grieving Royal Family on the day the Queen died, sources have claimed.

Prince Harry reportedly wanted his wife to join him as royals raced to the Scottish estate to say their final goodbyes to their beloved mother and grandmother on September 8. 

However, Britain’s new King phoned his youngest son and told him it was ‘not appropriate’ for the former Suits actress to be there, according to reports. 

It is claimed that in the ensuing row, during which Harry fought to persuade his father to allow Meghan to come with him, he missed a flight carrying William and their uncles Andrew and Edward to Scotland – and with it the chance to bid farewell. 

The prince – who plunged the monarchy into crisis after he and the duchess sensationally quit royal duties and left the UK for California two years ago, before making a series of stunning allegations against The Firm – was so angry that his wife had been banned, and that he had missed his first flight, that he refused to have dinner that evening with Charles, William and Queen Consort Camilla. 

Instead, he ate with the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex before leaving early the next morning, The Sun reports.

The Sun quotes a source as saying: ‘Harry was so busy trying to get Meghan to Balmoral and rowing with his family that he missed the flight.

‘Charles has an open invitation for Harry to dine with him whenever he is in the country.

‘But Harry was so furious that he refused to eat with his father and brother.

‘It was a massive snub. And he got out of Balmoral at the earliest opportunity to catch the first commercial flight back to London.’

The next morning he was the first member of the Royal Family to leave, boarding an early British Airways flight from Aberdeen where he was pictured comforting an airport worker after she passed along her condolences for his grandmother’s death.

Harry headed back to Meghan at 8.28am, where he was sat alone in the rear of a Range Rover as he was driven out of the Royal Family’s Scottish home, where he had arrived at 7.52pm the night before.

He was swept into Aberdeen airport at 9.20am, led by five police outriders, and boarded a flight to London leaving at 10am.

Harry wore a black suit and carried a shoulder bag as he walked towards the steps of the plane. An airport worker offered her sympathies as the Prince was about to walk up the steps of a British Airways aircraft.

The woman, who was dressed in a high- visibility yellow jacket, addressed Prince Harry. The royal smiled and patted her gently in the shoulder before boarding the aircraft for London’s Heathrow Airport.

Less than 12 hours earlier grief had been written on the Duke’s face after landed in Scotland following the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

He had his head bowed and partially covered his face as he was driven out of Aberdeen airport, arriving at Balmoral after dark.

The Queen’s death had forced an unexpected reunion between Harry and the rest of the Royal Family. 

The Sussexes, whose comments since Megxit has caused a rift with the royals, especially William, were not expected to see any royals during their tour of the UK and Europe – despite staying yards from the Cambridges during their pseudo-royal tour of Europe – until Her Majesty’s passing.

Since then the pair have taken part in more than a week of national mourning with other members of the Royal Family.

Harry was prominent in a number of processions and services, walking behind his grandmother’s coffin as it was transported from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, and again as it was subsequently moved to Westminster Abbey for her funeral.

Meanwhile, Meghan joined her husband for the Queen’s funeral and committal service on Monday, September 19, as well as for the coffin procession to Westminster Hall on September 14.

The pair also appeared to put on a united front with the Prince and Princess of Wales, heading out together to greet mourners and well-wishers at Windsor Castle.

It was claimed earlier this week that Meghan requested a ‘one-to-one’ meeting with King Charles in a bid to heal rifts before she left for California with Harry after the Queen’s funeral.

Neil Sean, an entertainment correspondent who has appeared on NBC News, MSNBC and Access Hollywood, said that he had heard from a ‘very good source’ that the American actress had sent a letter requesting a private conversation with the King.

Mr Sean claims that Meghan wanted to ‘clear the air’ amid reports the couple would fly back to the US as soon as they can to see their children, Archie, three, and Lilibet, one.

‘She’d now like before they return back to California to have a one-to-one audience with King Charles III,’ Sean said in a video posted to YouTube, that has recorded nearly 300k views.

‘That’s right—Meghan one-to-one with King Charles. You heard correct.

‘It’s a very brave move from Meghan herself,’ Sean said.

Detailing the content of the letter, he said: ‘It would be an opportunity to clear the air, pull the rights from wrongs and explain some of the rationale behind what they’ve been doing over the last two years.

‘Now, you know, you have to admire Meghan’s self-belief, whatever you think.’

However, in a twist, royal sources claimed it was ‘very unlikely’ that the Duchess of Sussex had written such a letter.

Charles is known to want to heal his relationship with his son and his wife, even saying how much he loved them in his first address as King, making it ‘very unlikely’ he would ignore such a request if it happened, one source said.

Buckingham Palace and the Sussexes have not commented on the claims, however royal sources told MailOnline that Meghan would be ‘very unlikely’ to trouble the King as he mourns his mother after yesterday’s funeral and as he grapples with his first days as King. 

Another insider said it would be ‘odd’ for the Duchess to write formally to the King directly for a meeting, given Harry would have a direct path to his father.

While William and Harry have put aside their disagreements for royal events in recent days, fears over the content of Harry’s upcoming memoir continue to cast a cloud over their relationship – especially following the bombshell interview he and Meghan gave to Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 when they accused an unnamed royal of racism.

Rumours of a rift between the brothers first emerged in 2019 when they divided their households following various disagreements about Harry’s role, but their feud deepened amid the fallout from the Megxit saga in 2020.

But the death of the Queen has seen the rivals shelve their differences, with William and Kate joined by Harry and Meghan for the first occasions in more than two years since Commonwealth Day in March 2020.

A royal source told the Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey that Prince William and Kate, felt ‘the focus should solely be on this period of deep mourning and nothing else. The focus should only be on his late grandmother’.

Prince Andrew and Prince Harry were both again banned from saluting during the procession to Westminster Abbey on Monday – while other royals including King Charles III, Prince William and Princess Anne all performed the gesture.

Members of the Royal Family saluted when the Queen’s coffin was taken into the Abbey. But Andrew and Harry simply stood still because they were not allowed to wear military uniform, as neither are now working royals.

It comes after Harry and Andrew were also prohibited from saluting at the funeral procession to Westminster Hall. Andrew did also not salute at the vigil in Edinburgh for the same reason.

The decision to ban Harry and Andrew from wearing military uniforms in most events following the Queen’s death at Balmoral is a reminder of how both now have limited involvement in the Royal Family.

Prince Harry spent ten years in the Army, but he was stripped of his honorary military titles in 2020 after he and his wife announced they were stepping down as senior working royals and moving abroad.

His uncle the Duke of York, who was forced to stand down from public life in 2019 over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, is the only other royal banned from wearing military uniform at the ceremonial events and funeral.

Meghan was ‘unresponsive’ to Queen Consort Camilla’s attempts to give her advice and support when she first joined the Royal Family, book claims

By Jessica Taylor for MailOnline 

The Duchess of Sussex was ‘unresponsive’ to Queen Consort Camilla’s advice to her when she first joined The Firm, a royal book has claimed.

A new biography of the Queen Consort, written by Angela Levin, claims the then-Duchess of Cornwall organised lunches with Meghan and did her best to welcome her into the family – but her advice fell flat with an ‘unresponsive’ Meghan.

An extract of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: A Royal Survivor, which was published in the Telegraph, Levin claims Camilla was keen to help Meghan at the beginning of her relationship with Harry after herself struggling to be accepted by the Royal Family, and ‘warmly’ welcomed her when she first arrived in London.

Levin added King Charles, who was then Prince of Wales, enjoyed Meghan’s company and often spoke to her about theatre and the arts.

In an attempt to help the Duchess of Sussex ‘find her feet’, the Queen Consort advised her on how to handle the pressure of being in the public eye and the scrutiny she would face as a senior member of the Royal Family.

Levin quoted an unnamed source who told her at the time: ‘She doesn’t want to see anyone struggling and she is fond of Meghan.’

Despite Camilla’s efforts, Levin claimed the Duchess ‘seemed bored’ and ‘preferred to go her own way’ in carving out a role for herself within The Firm. 

The author also acknowledged the Duchess of Sussex’s reputation within the family for being an incredibly hard worker, noting the cookbook she made contributions to which had been put together by survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

Paying tribute to Meghan’s work with the Grenfell community, Levin noted how the Queen Consort invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, plus Camilla’s friend Lucia Santa Cruz, to lunch at Highgrove, and made sure the menu had been cultivated specifically from recipes in the Grenfell Tower cookbook – which Lucia described as ‘a really nice gesture’.

The account detailed by Levin comes as another royal book claims the Queen Consort ‘spluttered over her tea’ when Prince Harry suggested bringing in a third-party mediator to heal the rift between himself and Meghan and the rest of the family.

In The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown, by Katie Nicholl, which has been serialised in Vanity Fair, Nicholl wrote how relations between the Duke and Duchess and the rest of the family were most strained after Harry and Meghan did not come to the UK in March 2021 to attend the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service.

At the time, reports claimed Harry had concerns over his family’s security arrangements while in the UK.

Nicholl wrote that King Charles, who was then Prince of Wales, invited Harry and Meghan to tea just weeks after the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service, as the couple stopped off in the UK before heading to The Hague to attend an Invictus Games event.

However, an unnamed family friend told Nicholl the meeting was ‘awkward’ and only lasted for around 15 minutes after the Duke and Duchess were late to meet then-Prince Charles and then-Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla.

They claimed: ‘[Harry] actually suggested that they use a mediator to try and sort things out, which had Charles somewhat bemused and Camilla spluttering into her tea.’

They added the Queen Consort told the Duke his suggestion was ‘ridiculous’ and that they would resolve their differences within the family.