Meet the ‘Sussex Survivors Club’: The inside story of the staff who were ‘traumatised’ by working for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

While they may not be visible in the pictures plastered across the front pages, Meghan and Prince Harry hire a host of staff to help manage their image behind the scenes.

But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have a problem with high staff turnover – so much so that there is talk of a ‘Sussex Survivors Club’.

The group allegedly comprises disgruntled ex-employees who worked for the Sussexes and ‘lived to tell the tale’, according to the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English.

Former staff members were alleged to have post-traumatic stress disorder, defined by the NHS as an anxiety disorder caused by very distressing or frightening events.

Melissa Touabti reportedly resigned as she was ‘traumatised’ by her boss’s behaviour, according to historian Robert Lacey.

The Frenchwoman worked for Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda Field, before becoming Meghan’s assistant and ‘played a pivotal role in the success of the Royal Wedding‘.

Writing in his book Battle of Brothers, Lacey describes how Meghan allegedly asked Touabti to ‘order some personally embroidered red blankets for the guests at a Sandringham shooting party that the American actress was hosting for a group of Harry’s friends’.

The royal biographer continued: ‘When the blankets arrived, however, they were not the right shade of red for Meghan, and by several accounts the duchess “went mental” at her hapless PA.’

Meghan and Prince Harry appear to have a problem with high staff turnover

Melissa Touabti (right) worked for Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda Field (left) before becoming Meghan’s assistant

As a result, the ‘hugely talented’ Touabti resigned just six months after the big day at St George’s Chapel.

But there was another side of the story, according to Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, the authors of Finding Freedom.

They allege that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had become ‘dissatisfied’ with Touabti’s work and ‘were not disappointed when she left’, although they spelt her name incorrectly as ‘Toubati’ in the manuscript.

Scobie and Durand explain that when Meghan accepted Harry’s proposal in November 2017, the Duke insisted his fiancée have a ‘dedicated team to assist her in learning all the ins-and-outs of royal life’.

The writers name the trusted team as Amy Pickerill or ‘Pickle’ to friends, who would become Meghan’s private secretary; Heather Wong, who worked for the Obama administration as Secretary of Public Affairs; Edward Lane Fox, Harry’s private secretary and former captain in the Household Cavalry, and Jason Knauf, a PR professional who was poached from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

But by the end of 2019, all of these key players had fled from Harry and Meghan’s employment and, according to Lacey, some formed an informal fraternity titled the ‘Sussex Survivors Club’.

Pickerill, who was Meghan’s ‘right-hand man’, stepped down after the Duchess gave birth to Prince Archie in May 2019; Wong left in September 2019; Fox announced his departure before the royal wedding and stepped down soon afterwards; and Knauf lasted until the following spring before jumping ship and joining Prince William’s team as the chief executive of his Royal Foundation.

In 2018, Meghan was subject to an internal investigation with Knauf writing a formal human resources complaint that read: ‘I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the last year.’

Amy Pickerill walks with her boss Meghan. She would step down as private secretary after the birth of Prince Archie in May 2019

Heather Wong is pictured with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at a charity fair in Nottingham in December 2017

Wong would leave their employment in September 2019

Edward Lane Fox whispers to Prince Harry at the opening of the Invictus Games in 2014

Fox (pictured in January 2018) would announce his departure just before the Royal Wedding in May 2018 and leave soon after

Jason Knauf (left) follows Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto in 2017. He started working for William and Catherine as the chief executive of their Royal Foundation in 2019

Since, Knauf has been made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 2023 – showing how good their relationship still is. 

In a bombshell interview with 60 Minutes Australia in February of this year, Knauf said he ‘wouldn’t change anything’ about the leak of his emails alleging bullying by Meghan.

The Times reported that the ‘febrile’ atmosphere within Kensington Palace saw staff, on occasion, weeping. Two say they were bullied by the duchess, a third that they had been ‘humiliated’ by her.

The newspaper quotes one aide, who was anticipating a confrontation with Meghan, as saying: ‘I can’t stop shaking.’

In a statement, Buckingham Palace – which is responsible for the hiring of royal staff – said: ‘We are clearly very concerned about allegations in the Times following claims made by former staff of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

‘Accordingly, our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article. Members of staff involved at the time, including those who have left the Household, will be invited to participate to see if lessons can be learned. 

‘The Royal Household has had a Dignity at Work policy in place for a number of years and does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace.’

But it was not just Meghan who allegedly drove staff away.

Knauf was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 2023

Former aide Jason Knauf said he ‘wouldn’t change anything’ about the leak of his emails alleging bullying by Meghan

Royal biographer Robert Jobson claimed in his book Charles at Seventy, which was serialised in the Daily Mail, that Meghan’s wedding preparations were so stressful that Harry became ‘petulant and short-tempered’ with staff.

Jobson wrote: ‘Raising his voice on occasion, Harry would insist, “What Meghan wants, she gets”.’

Representatives for Meghan and Harry have vehemently dismissed the allegations as part of a ‘calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful information’.

They describe the allegations as ‘old’, ‘distorted’ and aimed at ‘undermining’ Meghan.

An earlier statement issued by Meghan’s spokesman said: ‘The duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.

‘She is determined to continue her work building compassion around the world and will keep striving to set an example for doing what is right and doing what is good.’

It has been suggested by others that staff may have ‘misunderstood’ Meghan’s more direct, American style.

But the Daily Mail’s Rebecca English said she has ‘personally witnessed more than one member of staff driven to tears by the treatment they were subjected to by the Duke and Duchess before the couple acrimoniously quit as working royals’.

Representatives for Harry and Meghan have dismissed the allegations as part of a ‘calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful information’

‘One person sobbed down the phone to me after a particularly harrowing day,’ English wrote. ‘They clearly felt emotionally broken and could no longer cope with the pressure they were being subjected to.’

The established royal journalist continued: ‘Others have indicated to me they were being asked to behave in a manner they did not feel professionally comfortable with, particularly in their dealings with the media. 

‘Several aides have also told me that Meghan in particular was very good at “drawing” staff into her confidence, flattering them as if they were the only person in the world she could trust and asking them to help her with various duties. 

‘Toxic, hostile, distrustful, poisonous: all words I have heard regularly used over the past few years to describe people’s experiences working in the Sussexes’ household.’

It comes as Prince Harry stepped down from his charity Sentebale amid a boardroom battle with its chairman Sophie Chandauka, who accused the Duke of ‘harassment and bullying at scale’.

The Charity Commission has since launched an investigation which Harry hopes will ‘unveil the truth’.

Perhaps the ‘Sussex Survivors Club’ has welcomed a new member.