Meghan Markle was accused of intimidating at least two palace helpers during her short term as a senior British royal.
Sources told The Times of London that the Duchess of Sussex occasionally reduced staff to tears when she lived at Kensington Palace after her marriage in May 2018 to Prince Harry.
In an alleged incident, a royal aide who predicted a confrontation with Markle said to a colleague, “I can’t stop shaking.”
Two senior members of the palace staff were reportedly intimidated to leave their jobs, the UK newspaper reported.
A third former aide said they were personally “humiliated” by the former TV actress.
Another former employee told the Times that the situation seemed “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I think can also be called bullying”.
The couple’s communications assistant at the time, Jason Knauf, reported the behavior in October 2018, apparently in an effort to protect employees, the report said.
“I am very concerned because Duchess managed to expel two PAs from her home last year. The treatment of X * was totally unacceptable ”, said the HR complaint.
“The Duchess seems determined to always have someone in sight,” Knauf would have continued. “She is intimidating Y and trying to undermine her confidence. We received reports after reports from people who witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y. ”
He added: “I am still concerned that nothing will be done.”
Newspaper sources said Buckingham Palace was more concerned with making the situation go away than resolving it.
“The elderly in the house … knew that they faced a situation in which team members, especially young women, were being bullied to the point of shedding tears,” said one person.
“The institution only protected Meghan constantly. All the men in the gray suit she hates have a lot to answer for, because they did absolutely nothing to protect people. “
A Sussex spokesman said Markle, 39, denied all allegations of bullying and was “saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been bullied.”
The allegations come before a revealing interview the couple did with Oprah Winfrey – in which Markle says life in the royal family was “almost impossible to survive”
She and Harry, 34, will talk about their decision to leave the royal family and move to California with their baby son, Archie.