Meghan Markle ‘wanted to finish what Princess Diana started’ but on a ‘part-time basis’ – and ‘hated’ staying at Nottingham Cottage
A former member of staff to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has claimed that Meghan Markle insisted she would ‘finish what Princess Diana started’ but on a ‘part-time basis’, when she first joined the royal family.
Speaking anonymously to Yes, Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants by Tom Quinn, a new book which will be out this month, an insider offered insight into the former actress’ plans for becoming a working royal.
‘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,’ they alleged, in an extract obtained by FEMAIL.
Though they prefaced that they didn’t mean it ‘in a critical way’, the insider added that Meghan had wanted to follow in the footsteps of her late mother-in-law, who was known for her extensive humanitarian and charity work.
But the Duchess’ philanthropic ambitions were apparently only a ‘part-time’ commitment, the former staff member told Quinn.
‘She has managed to do this to some extent, but she really wanted to do it as a princess and with the full backing of the royal family but on a part-time basis,’ they said.
Elsewhere in the book, it is claimed that Meghan was unprepared for royal life in more ways than one and that she resented having to tell staff of her movements.
For instance, a former Kensington Palace staffer said she ‘hated’ staying at Nottingham Cottage, where she and Harry lived between the years of 2017 and 2019, and didn’t like having to inform staff of her whereabouts.
A former member of staff to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has claimed Meghan Markle insisted she would ‘finish what Princess Diana started’ but on a ‘part-time basis’, when she first joined the royal family (pictured in 2018)
‘She had to agree well in advance what time she might leave for an appointment or an event and she had to make sure she didn’t leave at the same time as, or clash in any way with, a more senior royal leaving the palace,’ they told Quinn.
In the book it is also 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.
Among other accounts in the book, one of the late Queen Elizabeth’s former courtiers, attested to the claim that Meghan was not prepared to stick to royal strategy.
They told Quinn that the Duchess ‘had plans for her life as a working royal that were not going to be part of a general strategy’.
Princess Diana walked through an active minefield in Angola in 1997 (pictured)
Though they prefaced that they didn’t mean it ‘in a critical way’, the insider added that the former royal had wanted follow in the footsteps of her late mother-in-law, who was known for her extensive humanitarian and charity work (Diana pictured holding a baby in a hostel in Brazil)
They added that she ‘wanted to do her own thing’ but that it ‘was never going to be acceptable that Meghan should outshine Princess Anne, Prince Charles [as he then was] and Elizabeth the Queen.’
Continuing, they said that before her passing, Queen Elizabeth was naturally the focus of everything the royals did – a fact that didn’t ‘think Meghan understood‘ since it entailed her having to ‘do things she didn’t want to’.
‘She didn’t understand that when you join the royal family, you don’t do as you please, you do as you’re told. In a sense, you become a servant of the family.’
They explained that when anyone joins the royal family, they are expected to carry out duties as instructed by the courtiers, senior staff and royals.
‘Meghan undoubtedly felt constrained by this and she felt that both she and Harry needed to break out – to still be royals and still be working royals but do their own thing without consulting the big royal machine,’ the former courtier said.
Though they noted that this ‘was never going to be acceptable’.
However, Harry was so enamoured by the possibility of doing things differently, he staunchly defended Meghan when she butted heads with Palace officials.
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’.
Elsewhere in the book, it is claimed that Meghan (pictured in 2017) was unprepared for royal life in more ways than one and that she resented having to tell staff of her movements
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’.
FEMAIL has reached out to the Sussexes for comment.
In another part of the book, it was claimed that Harry’s wife Meghan had a ‘messiah complex’ which led her to clash with Palace staff – but the Duke would reportedly always rush to her defence.
‘I don’t mean that in a critical way because all her big ideas were about doing good,’ they said.
Before Harry met the former Suits actress, courtiers noted, he had been ‘reasonably happy’ and ‘pretty easy-going’, enjoying a close relationship with his older brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate.
At the same time, there were concerns about what the Duke 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.
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’.
Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants by Tom Quinn (published by Biteback, £20) is available for pre-order.
