Who’s the REAL bully in Meghan’s royal psychodrama? You might think it takes one to know one… writes AMANDA PLATELL

Never shy about stealing the spotlight, Meghan Markle spoke to a group of young girls at an event supposedly aimed at their social media empowerment about what it’s like to be “one of the most bullied people in the world.”

Well, as those who say they’ve witnessed her alleged behavior since she got engaged to Prince Harry may have asked, doesn’t it take one to know one?

First of all, I’m not sure how the privileged Duchess’s “poor me” act would have gone down with those schoolgirls in Santa Barbara, one of California’s poorest counties, where so many live below the poverty line.

Secondly, it can hardly be a coincidence that her heartbreaking claims came less than a month after allegations that she was difficult with her own staff.

The Hollywood Reporter published an article — largely based on information from a “very senior” source who, according to editor Maer Roshan, worked for Harry and Meghan — claiming that her staff called her a “dictator in high heels.” It was claimed that she was someone who ‘doesn’t take advice’, has ‘brought grown men to tears’ and added for good measure the observation that ‘everyone is terrified of Meghan’.

The Sussexes hit back and branded the stories as malicious, with a source close to the couple telling US Weekly magazine: “These quotes were made up by someone who has no knowledge of our business.” It quoted those who worked for Meghan as saying she was a good employer, took into account the needs of her staff and gave them thoughtful gifts – including a dog collar for a staffer who had just gotten a dog and a baby that leaves her children Archie and Lilibet to grow. had outgrown.

Very well, but the truth is that Meghan cannot dispel these recurring accusations that she really is Duchessa Difficult – claims that emerged soon after she joined the Firm and which both she and Harry have vehemently denied.

She reportedly acted like a diva from the moment she joined the royal family. For their wedding, she apparently demanded a $13 million emerald tiara. But the late Queen Elizabeth decided she couldn’t wear it – leading to an angry exchange with Prince Harry, who stomped his foot and said: ‘Whatever Meghan wants. Meghan gets.’ His grandmother quickly agreed with him.

Early on, apologies were made on her behalf – perhaps she was just a career-driven American whose manner and style was very different from the British. What appeared to be unreasonable demands placed on her staff were a matter of things lost in transatlantic translation.

Yet Meghan’s imperiousness continued to make headlines, for example in the row over what the bridesmaids would wear to her wedding. It was claimed that Meghan reduced Kate to tears, although Megs vehemently denies this and said it was Kate who made this happen her shout!

I’m afraid I’m inclined to side with the Princess of Wales in any fairness contest between them.

Perhaps most damning in terms of the allegations against Meghan’s wayward treatment of people are the allegations of ‘bullying’ from Palace staff over the short time she was a working Royal in 2018.

Since the Sussexes married in 2018, at least 18 members of their workforce have moved on

The Times newspaper first reported the claims in 2020, saying: ‘Meghan has driven two personal assistants out of the household and undermined the trust of a third.’ It claimed the Duchess at one point snapped: ‘It’s not my job to coddle people’, after even experienced aides who had worked for the Royals for years were left in tears and humiliated by her ‘difficult demands’.

Such was the concern that Buckingham Palace asked an outside law firm to review the allegations in 2021, which Meghan strongly refuted.

The results of the investigation have been buried by the Palace, but that hasn’t stopped former members of her staff at the Firm from calling themselves the ‘Sussex Survivors’ Club’.

Never in the recent history of the royal family has another senior royal – not the late Queen, Queen Camilla, Princesses Anne, Catherine or Sophie – been accused of bullying their staff.

Nor should we be surprised that the rumors continue to circulate in America, given the extraordinary turnover of high-profile personnel there. Since the Sussexes married in 2018, at least 18 members of their staff have moved on, including Meghan’s highly regarded private secretary Samantha Cohen, who became so trusted she rose to become assistant private secretary to the Queen.

In California, their highly qualified global press secretary Toya Holness left after just ten months. Josh Kettler, their chief of staff, left after just three months. Although he later said that he was ‘warmly received’ by Harry and Meghan and that they are ‘dedicated and hardworking’.

Of course, Team Sussex continues to talk about how it’s the pesky Royals who are behind all these horrible stories about her, as Harry did in his book Spare, where he directly accused Camilla of ‘sacrificing’ them on the altar of her own ambitions.

They claim the British media is in cahoots with the palace to discredit Meghan. What nonsense. As if the hard-working Royals don’t have anything more to think about, especially now that Charles and Kate are battling cancer.

In Meghan’s eyes, she is always the victim. For example, in 2020, she told the Teenager Therapy podcast, “I was the most cheated on person in the world, male or female, and it was ‘almost unsurvivable.’

And now she brings up the subject of being the most bullied person in the world!

I’m sorry, Megs, it just doesn’t work.

May I suggest that, during the long hours of the night in your Montecito mansion, you should occasionally break out of your own sanctity and wonder who the Real bully in this ongoing royal psychodrama.