'Who do you think you are?': Meghan Markle enraged Palace staff with demands before wedding to Harry
A royal source has revealed that before her wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle clashed with Buckingham Palace staff over her demands for the wedding. Royal expert Camilla Tominey also claimed the staff asked "who do you think you are?" over the Sussexes demands before they tied the knot in 2018.
Tominey was responding to reports that claimed the ‘Suits’ star was highly demanding during the preparations of her D-day. She also mentioned that the staff members were not happy with the former senior royal couple’s attitude while the preparations for the wedding were going on. Their approach reportedly led to some "below-stairs chatter" from the palace staff.
Speaking with the New Yorker, Tominey said: “I’ve put it down to a clash of cultures, in the sense that she had come from the celebrity world, which is very fast-paced and quite demanding. The royal world is very different – it’s much slower-paced and hugely hierarchical. In the royal world, it’s ‘What should we do next?’ ‘Well, what did we do last time?’"
The Telegraph reporter continued, “It’s a bit like ‘Downton Abbey’ – there’s a hierarchy of staff who have been at Buckingham Palace for years and years, to serve Queen and country. And, therefore, for Harry and Meghan to be making demands, there was a bit of below-stairs chatter, particularly with the Duchess, that was ‘Well, hang on a minute, who do you think you are?’"
Earlier reports have claimed that the younger daughter-in-law of late Princess Diana and Prince Charles had displayed a "dictatorial" attitude when asking for St. George's Chapel to be spritzed by air fresheners. However, her friends have denied these claims.
This comes after Meghan and Harry stepped down from senior royal duties and shifted to Los Angeles, USA, to start a “new life”. As previously reported, the 35-year-old has also stopped using his royal surname. While registering a new sustainable tour firm, Travalyst, Harry neither used his HRH title nor the family name Mountbatten-Windsor.
He also ditched the surname Wales which he used while he was a school student and in the Army, as he preferred to be listed only as Prince Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex.
Travalyst, led by Harry, is “a bold new global initiative founded by Booking.com, Skyscanner, Trip.com, TripAdvisor and Visa, with the ambition to change the impact of travel, for good,” according to its website.
Besides, Meghan and Harry have also announced their charitable foundation called Archewell. They also explained the meaning behind the name of their foundation and said the Greek word 'Arche', which means a source of action, was the inspiration behind the name. This word was also the source of inspiration for their son’s name, Archie.
"Archewell is a name that combines an ancient word for strength and action, and another that evokes the deep resources we each must draw upon. We look forward to launching Archewell when the time is right," the couple shared as the details about the non-profit have been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.