Meghan Markle’s ‘messiah complex’ led her to clash with palace staff – but Harry ‘defended all her actions’, royal book claims

Meghan Markle’s ‘messiah complex’ led her to clash with Palace staff – but Prince Harry would always rush to her defence, a new royal book has claimed. 

In an extract from Tom Quinn’s new book Yes Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants, obtained by FEMAIL, a former member of Harry and Meghan’s staff said the Duchess ‘really did have a messiah complex’ regarding her role in the Royal Family. 

They told Quinn: ‘I don’t mean that in a critical way because all her big ideas were about doing good. 

‘She once said, “What Diana started I want to finish,” and we took that to mean she wanted to become a sort of globetrotting champion of the poor and the marginalised,’ the ex-staffer continued, referring to Meghan’s late mother-in-law, the Princess of Wales. 

Palace staff also highlighted Harry’s ‘tendency to defend anything and everything Meghan does’ when his wife clashed with royal aides 

Before Harry met the former Suits actress, courtiers noted, he had been ‘reasonably happy’ and ‘pretty easy-going’, and enjoyed a close relationship with his older brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate. 

At the same time, there were concerns about what Harry was going to do after completing his military service, with one courtier claiming the younger son of King Charles ‘was always a problem’. 

Senior advisers knew that Harry was never going to be happy navigating the royal round partly because he was easily frustrated with ‘all the handshaking and small talk’ but also due to his resentment at being the Spare. 

Prince Harry was ‘waiting for a woman to mould him’ before he met Meghan Markle and cherished the ‘possibility of freedom’ she brought to his life, a new book has claimed

Palace staff also highlighted Harry’s ‘tendency to defend anything and everything Meghan does’ when his wife’s ‘messiah complex’ led her to clash with aides

 When he met Meghan – an actress who was best known for her role on NBC’s legal drama Suits – there was renewed hope within the walls of Buckingham Palace that she would keep Harry ‘out of trouble’ and ‘give him something to focus on’. 

Members of the old guard at the palace weren’t particularly concerned that Meghan, who was born in the United States, was a so-called outsider because Harry was ‘never going to be King’. 

‘They thought he’d just go away and have children at Windsor or wherever and be happy,’ one former member of Kensington Palace’s staff told Quinn. 

However, it soon became clear Meghan’s aspirations for her life as a senior member of the Royal Family was starkly different to what the Palace had planned for her and Prince Harry. 

One of Queen Elizabeth II’s former courtiers told Quinn that Meghan just ‘wanted to do her own thing’ and ‘felt constrained’ by the limits of her public-facing work as decided by the courtiers, senior staff members, and senior royals. 

However, Harry was so enamoured by the possibility of doing things differently, he staunchly defended Meghan when she butted heads with Palace officials. 

Meanwhile, one of Prince Harry’s military friends said he was ‘waiting for a woman to mould him’ before he met Meghan. 

After their marriage, one of Harry’s now-retired senior aides added, the Duke began to view his ‘core activity’ as ‘being with Meghan’ – rather than attending events like other royal family members – and ‘increasingly adopted her views’. 

Before Harry met the former Suits actress, courtiers noted, he had been ‘reasonably happy’ and ‘pretty easygoing’, and enjoyed a close relationship with his older brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate

One former staffer also noted he was ‘far more concerned about social issues and the rights of minorities than he’d ever been before Meghan’s arrival’.

Elsewhere in the book, it is claimed that Meghan convinced Harry ‘he was being neglected, sidelined, and undervalued’ by the Firm, and felt that their Nottingham Cottage residence was a ‘reflection’ of how the Royal Family was ‘belittling’ him. 

Harry had lived in Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace since 2013 and Meghan joined him there after the couple announced their engagement in 2017. 

They later moved into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor at the beginning of 2019 before the birth of their first child, Archie.

Prince William and Kate also lived in the two-bedroom property from 2011 until 2013 and moved to Kensington Palace when their son, Prince George, was a few months old. 

A member of Meghan’s communications team also told Quinn that she instantly noticed her husband ‘wasn’t quite as central to things’ as Prince William – but Harry had never given much thought to the fact that he was a spare ‘until well into his marriage’. 

‘It was only when he began to feel that he was being treated as a second-class citizen that the anger began to build up and then the rows – and there were a lot of rows – and the eventual split,’ a retired member of Kensington Palace staff said. 

Prince Harry and Meghan announced their decision to step down as senior royals and move abroad on January 8, 2020 – triggering a family schism that was quickly dubbed ‘Megxit’.

The book by Tom Quinn also suggested the American former actress’ tactile manner made the heir to the British throne ‘uncomfortable’. Picture, Prince William and Meghan greeting one another in April 2018

‘After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,’ the couple posted to their now-defunct joint Instagram account.

‘We intend to step back as “senior” members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen,’ the statement read. 

In his book, Quinn also touched upon the Prince and Princess of Wales’ relationship with Meghan, noting her ‘warm, hug-friendly approach’ made William ‘uncomfortable’. 

He added that the Duchess’s ‘hugging and cheek-kissing fuelled gossip among the staff that Meghan was flirting with William’. 

‘She was obviously not, but the tense atmosphere caused by all the touchy-feeliness (and the resultant gossip) deepened the rift between the brothers,’ claimed Mr Quinn.

His book, published on February 18, offers a glimpse of the Royal Family from the staff members who have served them.

Yes, Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants by Tom Quinn (published by Biteback, £20) is available for pre-order.