Harry and Meghan's Bullying Allegations Resurface — and the Timing Couldn’t Be Worse

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have long faced rumors of workplace harassment and mistreatment of staff. The allegations first came to light when former royal advisor Jason Knauf publicly claimed that Markle bullied her junior aides, pushing many to quit. Now, fresh claims of their alleged bad behavior have emerged, further damaging their already tarnished reputation. Reports claim that the Sussexes have sacked two of their communications chiefs for poor performance, which was soon followed by the resignation of four additional staffers.

As per reports, Harry and Markle let go of the said aides in an attempt to create their very own 'royal household.' As reported by The List, the Duke and Duchess allegedly fired their communications chiefs, Charlie Gipson and Kyle Boulia, who worked with them for a year. The couple's shocking decision reportedly led to the other staff members leaving Markle's team, and the Sussexes now seek to rebuild their PR staff with a more capable squad. The publication also reports that the damaging claims surrounding their staff shakeup surfaced at an especially unfortunate timing, coinciding with the royal family’s annual Trooping the Color celebrations. Boulia served as the couple's LA-based deputy press secretary, and Gipson was their UK press officer. 

Earlier this year, Harry and Markle hired Meredith Kendall Maines as their first chief communications officer to lead their ventures and refurbish their broken public image. Maines addressed the latest staff shakeup, calling it a 'strategic decision.' She told the New York Post, "As the Duke and Duchess’s business and philanthropic interests grow, I have made the strategic decision to move toward a more traditional communications structure of specialist agency support, as previously reported." She added, "Transitioning from a team of two to an agency support staff of eight, operating across five different time zones, will give international media and stakeholders better access, and critically, faster response times to inquiries."

Royal expert and Daily Mail editor Charlotte Griffiths also opined that the Sussexes want to create a 'firm structure' similar to that of the royal family. She told GB News, "What they want to do is create this really firm structure so that when people come and go, we don't all go crazy saying yet another person's walked or yet another person's been fired, they just say this is the structure." Griffiths also argued that the Sussexes' 'global response' team could raise eyebrows about Harry's bid for privacy. She opined of Maines's public statement, "And I've got to say, for somebody who wants to be private, I do think Harry's got an awful lot of people now, globally responding in time zones all over the world to press inquiries."

Allegations of Harry and Markle mistreating their staff were first exposed in the Times during Markle's time in Kensington Palace in 2018. As per the BBC, Buckingham Palace said it was "clearly very concerned about allegations in the Times" and its HR team looked into the circumstances outlined in the article. However, the Palace opted not to make the results of their probe against Markle public.