Meghan Markle’s incessant hugging and cheek-kissing left both Palace aides and senior royals squirming, royal book claims

Meghan Markle’s ‘Californian’ ways left both senior royals and palace aides squirming as her ‘hug-everyone approach’ sparked salacious staff gossip, a new royal book has claimed. 

In his new book, Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, journalist Tom Quinn noted that the former Suits actress’ American mannerisms reinforced her status as an outsider among palace aides, staff members, and courtiers at Buckingham Palace. 

In an extract obtained by FEMAIL, the royal expert claimed the Duchess of Sussex‘s tactile manner made Prince William ‘uncomfortable’, adding it also ‘deepened the rift’ between him and Prince Harry. 

He wrote that her constant ‘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, which will be published on February 18, offers rare insight into the Royal Family from the staff members who have served them. 

In one section, they recalled how Kate and William found Meghan ‘delightful’ when she first started dating Prince Harry, but ‘tensions’ later developed – in part due to the Duchess’s ‘warm, friendly, hug-everyone approach’.

She would reportedly hug her brother-in-law, for instance, ‘virtually every time’ they saw one another.

In an extract from his new book, Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, journalist Tom Quinn reveals how the former Suits actress’ American mannerisms reinforced her status as an outsider among palace aides, staff members, and courtiers at Buckingham Palace 

Staff members who served the Firm recalled how Kate and William initially found Meghan ‘delightful’ when she first started dating Prince Harry. However, ‘tensions’ apparently developed due to the Duchess’s ‘warm, friendly, hug-everyone approach’.

‘Kate, William and Charles tended to flinch when she moved in for a hug. Meghan was understandably hurt, as everyone apparently hugs everyone in California,’ wrote the author.

Quinn added that palace courtiers were just as ‘outraged’ when Meghan tried to hug a ‘singularly stiff Old Etonian equerry’. 

‘He flinched as if she’d tried to poke him in the eye, as one staffer put it.’ 

In their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Suits star, 43, said she did not know the Royal Family’s ‘formality’ carries through behind closed doors and that she is a ‘hugger’ – which she did not realise was ‘jarring for some Brits’.

She said: ‘Even when Will and Kate came over and I was meeting her for the first time I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was barefoot.

‘Like I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger I didn’t realise that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.’

‘I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside, that there is a forward facing way of being and then you close the door and think “OK we can relax now”. But that formality carries over on both sides and that was surprising to me.’

Harry also recalled the apparently awkward first meeting between his now wife and his brother and sister-in-law in his bombshell memoir Spare.

Elsewehre, Quinn also explained how Meghan’s relationship with ‘junior’ staffers was seen as ‘inappropriate’ by senior royals – adding she was ‘especially friendly and close to one particular member of staff’ 

He claimed William ‘recoiled’ from Meghan’s hug and described the moment he introduced his sibling to his then girlfriend as a ‘classic collision of cultures’.

In his forthcoming book, Quinn also explained how Meghan’s relationship with ‘junior’ staffers was seen as ‘inappropriate’ by senior royals. 

‘She was actually very good at persuading some of the staff, even the junior staff,  to be very much on her side – and that too caused problems.

‘According to my source, Meghan became especially friendly and close to one particular member of staff, who was really quite junior, and this was seen as inappropriate by the senior royals,’ he wrote. 

As time went on, Quinn continued, Kensington Palace’s staff became divided into two camps – ‘for Meghan’ and ‘against Meghan’ – creating an ‘atmosphere of swirling rumour, gossip, and backbiting’. 

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’.

‘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.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Hillcrest Recreation Centre during the 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada

On February 14, Meghan marked Valentine’s Day with an Instagram post that showed her kissing Prince Harry

Earlier this week, Meghan marked Valentine’s Day with a gushing Instagram post that showed her and Prince Harry sharing a tender kiss. 

The post comes after she left the Invictus Games in Canada early to be with the couple’s children, Archie and Lilibet, at their home in Montecito. 

After initially joining her husband for the event’s opening ceremony and a handful of tournaments, Meghan was spotted dismbarking a private jet which brought her home to California on February 11. 

The Duchess of Sussex, wearing a blue jumper with white letters, was unaccompanied except by a security guard as she stepped off the plush transport inside a hangar at Santa Barbara Airport. 

The seventh edition of the Invictus Games is currently underway in Vancouver and the ski resort of Whistler.

Meghan said she was ‘beyond proud’ of the Duke of Sussex for ‘what he’s created’ with the Invictus Games – a Paralympics-style sporting event the Duke of Sussex launched in 2014 – in her romantic Valentin’es Day post. 

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