'Bully' Meghan Markle made William and Harry split households: Book
A royal author has claimed in his new book that Prince William split his household from Prince Harry's after a heated phone exchange over claims that Meghan Markle was bullying palace staff in 2018.
According to Robert Lacey's book Battle of the Brothers, a friend of the Sussexes said that "William threw Harry out" after the phone call, which allegedly abruptly concluded with the Duke of Sussex hanging up on his elder brother.
William suspected Meghan was "hostile" to the royal system and that she planned to leave the monarchy and return to America from the very start, the book claims.
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According to the staff quoted in the book, Meghan often "played the victim, but was a bully" and treated courtiers rather poorly. She allegedly influenced Harry as well, who started "screaming" at his staff shortly after Meghan entered the household, as per the book. It's worth noting that the Sussexes have strongly denied the bullying allegations.
In 'Battle of the Brothers', Lacey says William allegedly told a friend he thought Meghan had an "agenda" and that he felt "hurt" and "betrayed" by the rift. He also told the friend his wife Kate "had been wary of Meghan from the start," the book states.
According to extracts from the book obtained by the Daily Mail, William felt Meghan was "stealing his beloved brother away from him" and that she did not understand the workings of The Firm.
"Meghan portrayed herself as the victim, but she was the bully. People felt run over by her," a Kensington Palace courtier is quoted as saying. "They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged."
Lacey wrote that William had made his concerns known to Harry before they decided to get engaged. However, the row after Meghan and Harry's 2018 trip to Australia reportedly sealed William's decision to split the households.
Harry cited the Australia 2018 tour in his and Meghan's "tell-all" Oprah interview, saying it was the moment "the family got to see how incredible [Meghan] is at the job" and compared her treatment by the royal family to that of his mother Princess Diana.
According to Lacey, the rift between the brothers was sparked by an official email claiming Meghan was bullying palace staff. The email was reportedly sent by Jason Knauf, the communications secretary to both the Cambridges and the Sussexes at the time, in October 2018.
William decided to speak to Harry over the phone after hearing the allegations, but Harry staunchly defended his wife. The book claims that when William persisted, Harry hung up the phone.
The book claims that, in the end, William had to put the monarchy before his brother and stopped considering it was his duty to protect his younger sibling. Meanwhile, Harry was equally angry that his brother had given credence to accusations against his wife.
Harry said in the Oprah interview that he believed "unconscious bias" could have been one of the reasons behind how Meghan was treated. While it was previously claimed that Harry had decided to split the households, the book claims it was actually Prince William's decision. He allegedly wanted to distance himself from the Duchess of Sussex, the Daily Mail reported.