How Meghan shunned a former friend and business partner who warned her about marrying into the Windsors, royal insider book claims

Even before Meghan Markle had married into the Royal Family – and long before ‘Megxit’ – the soon-to-be Duchess of Sussex was already allegedly ruffling feathers.

It was February 2018 and Prince Harry and Meghan were on their first trip to Scotland together.

According to Tom Bower’s biography ‘Revenge’ – which documents Harry and Meghan’s fall-out with the Royal Family – the former Suits actress acted ‘distinctly unroyal’ during the walkabout in Edinburgh. 

‘Instead of keeping her distance she autographed a book, agreed to selfies and, with Harry’s encouragement, allowed the public to hug her,’ Bower wrote.

He added that complaints were also lodged that Meghan gave ‘unroyal high-fives’ and wore ‘inappropriate clothes’. 

However, Meghan’s most noteworthy behaviour of the trip happened away from public view and gave a taste of how Meghan allegedly acted during her brief time as a working royal.

Bower wrote that Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, who was Meghan’s former business advisor, was among the guests visiting a homeless shelter in the Scottish capital alongside the couple. 

Gina was reportedly told to stand with Meghan’s group of associates who she would mingle with once inside the building. But, as the couple arrived at the centre, Gina was ushered towards Harry’s group after being told a mistake had been made.

Prince harry and his then-fiancée Meghan Markle during their first trip to Scotland. According to royal biographer Tom Bower acted ‘distinctly unroyal’ during the visit

Prince Harry and Meghan visiting a homeless centre in Edinburgh. It was during this engagement that Meghan had a frosty exchange with a former friend

Meghan and her former friend Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne. Gina worked as the future duchess’s commercial agent for two years, which helped Meghan obtain endorsements and sponsorship deals with leading brands

When Harry walked past Gina, she claims to have asked the prince directly if Meghan ordered her to be moved – to which he did not respond. 

‘In disbelief, she [Gina] walked towards Meghan. With obvious embarrassment, a Palace official “body-blocked” her,’ Bower wrote. 

Writing in The Mail On Sunday in January 2020, Gina revealed more details about her experience of working with Meghan and why they are no longer friends.

She worked as the future duchess’s commercial agent for two years, which helped Meghan obtain endorsements and sponsorship deals with leading brands.   

Gina said that she had ‘real misgivings’ when she realised Meghan wanted Harry to propose to her and she ‘doubted whether Meghan would be able to sustain the unrelenting pressure of being Harry’s girlfriend, let alone – wonder of wonders – his wife’.

‘It wasn’t just the media attention. I distinctly remember explaining as we sipped wine in London’s West End that she must cope with the enormous expectations of the British public, the Royal Family and their courtiers. Her reaction was to hold up her hand and silence me.

‘”Save it,” she said, in a steely manner I had not noticed before. “I don’t wanna hear it… this is a positive time in my life”.

‘At that moment I felt uncomfortable in her company for the first time. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t shared secrets before, but this time it was different,’ Gina wrote.

Harry and Meghan during a royal walkabout in Edinburgh. Meghan’s former friend Gina was allegedly ‘body-blocked’ from talking to her 

Writing in The Mail On Sunday in January 2020, Gina revealed more details about her experience of working with Meghan and why they are no longer friends

Harry and Meghan kiss on their wedding day. Gina said that she had ‘real misgivings’ when she realised Meghan wanted Harry to propose to her and she ‘doubted whether Meghan would be able to sustain the unrelenting pressure of being Harry’s girlfriend’

She added: ‘She [Meghan] is a very ambitious woman and, when it is time to move on in her life, Meghan has a way of closing the door on the past, as she did with her father, her siblings, her first husband and with me.’ 

Gina also praised the Duchess of Sussex in the article saying that ‘Meghan was razor-sharp – creative and meticulous, with a good business brain and an American entrepreneurial attitude towards life’.

However, it’s Meghan’s attitude towards Royal staff that would land the duchess in hot water with none other than Prince William. 

Writing in his bestselling novel ‘Battle of Brothers’, Robert Lacey claims that Meghan would begin firing off emails as early as 5am, leaving staff with a ‘barrage’ of messages in their inboxes.

They added that the Sussexes reigned over a ‘really toxic environment’ that saw colleagues shaking before meetings with the Duchess of Sussex alongside allegations of bullying. There was even a claim that the encounters left one individual with PTSD. 

While Meghan brushed off a complaint about her conduct from a senior aide, claiming ‘it’s not my job to coddle people’, Prince William did not respond so flippantly to the issue.

According to Lacey, when Jason Knauf – a royal aide who worked with the Sussexes – presented William with a ‘dossier of distress’ about their behaviour he ‘went ballistic’ and was left ‘astonished’ and ‘horrified’ by what he heard. 

William’s anger stemmed from the fact that a tradition of treating the staff ‘like family’ within the Royal Family had been broken and that he personally knew many of those named, Lacey wrote.

Meghan smiles as she meets members of the public in Edinburgh in February 2018. During visits Bower claims complaints were lodged that Meghan gave ‘unroyal high-fives’ and wore ‘inappropriate clothes’

Following the dossier, William and Harry allegedly had a testy phone call where the Duke of Sussex ‘flared up in a fierce defence of his wife’.

Roberts wrote: ‘The moment the Prince heard the bullying allegations he got straight on the phone to talk to Harry – and when Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted.

‘Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went straight round to find his brother on the Kensington campus.’ 

In September 2024, an unnamed source told the Sunday Times that they witnessed ‘people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s***’.

Another source claimed that Meghan ‘screamed’ at a florist down the phone for half an hour after they failed to mention in an online post that the Duchess of Sussex was working with them on a bouquet. 

Earlier this year, a bombshell profile in Vanity Fair claimed that Meghan would reportedly be ‘warm and effusive’ towards employees at the start before turning ‘cold and withholding toward the person she perceived to be responsible’ when something ‘went poorly, often due to Meghan and Harry’s own demands’. 

A source who worked in media projects told the publication: ‘She’s constantly playing checkers – I’m not even going to say chess – but she’s just very aware of where everybody is on her board.

‘And when you are not in, you are to be thrown to the wolves at any given moment,’ which they say meant ‘undermining’ behaviour, adding: ‘It’s talking behind your back. It’s gnawing at your sense of self. Really, like, Mean Girls teenager.’ 

Prince William and Prince Harry together in 2017. The brothers reportedly had a testy phone call following allegations that Meghan was rude to staff at Kensington Palace 

The profile also details allegations from former employees of Meghan who reportedly felt mistreated during their time working with her.

These claims, which echo accusations from her time at Kensington Palace, paint a troubling picture of a woman whose behaviour allegedly left staff ‘having therapy’ and led to allegations of ‘bullying’ behind the scenes. These allegations were vehemently denied by representatives of Meghan and Harry at the time.

However, reports are conflicting.

Producer Jane Marie, who worked with Harry and Meghan during the development of Archewell Audio projects, insisted to Vanity Fair that Meghan is ‘just a lovely, genuine person’. 

Other staff members have claimed that she would send her employees gifts ranging from dog leashes to skincare products.