Meghan is
"narcissistic and sociopathic", reads in a new biography about
William and Harry
Historian Robert Lacey, who became popular for his
consulting work for The Crown, has a new book in which he reveals details about
what separated the inseparable William and Harry.
Carla B. Ribeiro
June 21, 2021,
12:59
A staff member wrote that "Meghan was ruled by
fear"
Brothers William
and Harry have over the years been seen as inseparable, revealing complicity,
possibly explained by the trauma they survived side by side, following their
mother's violent death following a car accident. It was clear that they had
very different ways of being, but they revealed unconditional support for each
other. And when Kate entered the equation, nothing changed. Until Meghan has
arrived, she defends Robert Lacey's book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry
- The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, which arrives revised, updated and
with six new chapters on June 24.
In this
biography, the excerpts of which are being published by the reputed The Times,
the complaints made by royal officials against Meghan Markle during her time in
Kensington, the palace the two couples have even shared, citing many emails
sent, which reads that Meghan is "narcissistic and sociopathic".
And the
complaints come to the highest levels, with Jason Knauf, communications
secretary at Kensington Palace, expressing "concern at the countless
stories of mistreatment brought to him by colleagues he knew well and trusted."
In a 2018 correspondence with Prince William's private secretary Simon Case,
Knauf expressed concern that the Duchess "was able to intimidate two
assistants" the previous year to the point of pushing them away.
In that same
message, Jason Knauf describes Meghan's behavior as "totally
unacceptable", adding that "the Duchess seems to want to always have
someone in her sights". A staff member wrote that "Meghan was ruled
by fear." "Nothing was ever good enough for her. He humiliated the
staff at the meetings, [yelled at] them, [cut off] access to e-mail – and then
demanded to know why they had done nothing."
Until, when asked
about her attitudes, she replied in writing, "It is not my place to spoil
people."
It would have
been all these episodes that led to William having "a furious
confrontation" with Brother Harry and decided to separate all the aspects
that the two couples had previously shared in kensington management. According
to Robert Lacey, William called his younger brother as soon as he became aware
of the complaints, and Harry defended the woman. The Duke of Cambridge then
decided to have this conversation in person, which led to a violent
confrontation: on the one hand William, who considered Meghan's behaviour
unacceptable; on the other, Harry was "furious that William had given
credit" to the bullying allegations made against the woman.
At the time, the
image was made that the departure from Kensington Palace had been a choice of
the Dukes of Sussex, but in this book Robert Lacey states that it was William
who drove the couple away from the property where they resided.
The complaints
against Meghan regarding the way she would treat staff are not new, and in
March this year Buckingham Palace hired an outside firm to conduct an
independent inquiry into the bullying allegations. According to The Times, the
Palace determined that the inquiry would not "be conducted in public"
and that it would not have a deadline.
At the time,
Meghan's spokesperson said that "the Duchess regrets this latest attack on
her character, particularly as she is someone who has been bullied and has a
deep commitment to supporting people who have the same pain."
Days later, in an
interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry said that William and his father, Prince
Charles, were "trapped" in royal duties, adding that if it hadn't
been for Meghan, he would have been. "I was trapped, but I didn't know ...
My father and brother are trapped. You can't leave, and I have a great deal of
compassion for it."
In the same
conversation, there were accusations of racism directed at an unidentified
member of the royal family. And that's all William reacted to, ignoring the
remaining accusations: "We're not a racist family."
Robert Lacey, 77,
is a British historian, author of several successful biographies, including
henry ford, eileen ford and queen Elizabeth II, working as a historical
consultant for netflix's award-winning series The Crown, the fifth season of
which is not expected to be available until 2022.
9 Royal Tabloid Controversies Explained in Robert
Lacey’s Battle of Brothers
In the new book about the rift between Prince Harry
and Prince William, the British press might just be the third most important
character.
BY ERIN
VANDERHOOF
OCTOBER 21,
2020
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/10/royal-tabloid-controversies-robert-lacey-battle-of-brothers
In his new
book, Battle of the Brothers: William and Harry—The Inside Story of a Family in
Tumult, Robert Lacey, royal expert and historical consultant to the The Crown,
tells the story of the recent schism separating Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
from the rest of the royal family from the very beginning: when Prince Charles
and Princess Diana first met. According to Lacey, the roots of Harry’s eventual
disillusionment are seen pretty clearly in the cold and difficult relationship
between his parents and the ways his mother pushed back against royal
strictures.
The story
of Charles and Diana has been told before, and so has the story of Meghan and
Harry. But in his version, Lacey takes a closer look at the way the press
itself shaped the lives of the people they were writing about as everything
unfolded. He examines how the family participated with the press, reporting
that Camilla Parker-Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, had a weekly telephone
appointment with a journalist from the Sun throughout the 80s, where she would
share tidbits she gleaned from her phone conversations with Charles. He also
discusses the way explosive press battles between Charles and Diana had an
impact on William and Harry’s upbringing. In one poignant moment, Lacey writes
that William’s boarding school had subscriptions to national newspapers, but on
a day his parents’ arguments led the news, they were not distributed to the
students to avoid causing him distress.
Treating
the press as a significant force—and some of the leading royal correspondents
as characters—means that Lacey brings a new eye to some of the biggest tabloid
controversies and mysteries of the last quarter century. Here are some of the
most fascinating ones.
William
welcomed Camilla into the family—but she was surprised by his temper. Camilla
remained friendly with Charles throughout his marriage to Diana, and though
there is some debate about when their affair began, Lacey reports that William
and Harry never met their future stepmother until after Diana’s death. They did
know about her, and William finally met her in 1998 when he made a surprise
visit to Charles and Camilla at home. Though he was friendly, the meeting
stressed Camilla out. “I need a gin and tonic,” she told a friend she said
afterward, before pouring herself a double. After his parents split, William
was angry at Charles and the tension seemingly lingered for decades. Camilla
later told friends that she was alarmed by William’s screaming and fiery temper
when he got into it with Charles.
There’s a
chance Kate only decided to go to St. Andrews after she heard William was
going. A long-forgotten tabloid controversy centers on the exact timeline of
Kate’s application to the university where she eventually met William. In
August 2000, William’s decision to attend St. Andrew’s to study the history of
art was made public. At first, Kate had applied and had committed to Edinburgh
University, where some of her friends were planning to go. Sometime in late
August or September, according to Lacey, Kate changed her mind and decided to
defer for a year and apply to St. Andrew’s, and her high school made her write
a formal letter to Edinburgh to apologize. Lacey isn’t sure exactly what her
motivations were, but he points out that applications for female students
jumped 44% after William announced his choice. Even if Kate did apply because
she harbored a slight crush on the prince who was already a global star, she
certainly wasn’t alone. Who among us, Lacey concludes, wouldn’t do the same?
The tiara
fight before Meghan’s wedding to Harry really happened—but it was way more
complicated than previously reported. In November 2018, rumors that Meghan was
denied her choice in tiara first erupted, adding to the narrative that the
palace referred to her as “Duchess Difficult.” Subsequent versions of the story
have cast doubt on the fact that Meghan was even there at all, and the authors
of Finding Freedom, another bombshell biography, claim the fight was between
Harry and the Queen Elizabeth’s dresser Angela Kelly about using the tiara for
a hair trial. According to Lacey, the queen did say no to a first suggestion
made by Meghan because it might have been acquired sketchily after the Russian
Revolution and is thus rarely put on display. If Harry questioned his
grandmother after that, Lacey thinks it might have only been because he didn’t
understand the significance of the tiara.
The
Buckingham Palace staff, specifically the queen’s private secretary and his
allies, were not fans of Meghan’s. According to Lacey, Meghan joined the family
right as a staff shakeup at Buckingham Palace had become contentious. The
queen’s longtime right-hand man, Christopher Geidt, had been pushed out of his
role, and his replacement, Edward Young, was not as beloved or competent a
manager. As a result, unflattering leaks from palace insiders went up
considerably starting in late 2017, meaning that some of the venom aimed at
Meghan might have been a coincidence. Lacey also believes that Young
particularly disliked Meghan and thus saddled her with a light, boring schedule
that didn’t allow her to get involved. Her two signature projects from her
years at the palace, the cookbook she worked on with Grenfell Tower fire
survivors and the issue of British Vogue she guest-edited, were both developed
without the help of the palace office, and made some insiders angry.
The Mail on
Sunday sent a reporter out to Meghan’s dad once they read about Meghan’s letter
to her father in the pages of People. Currently, Meghan is in the middle of a
lawsuit with Associated Newspapers, the parent company of the Mail, over their
February 2019 decision to publish excerpts of a private letter she wrote to her
father. In defense documents, the company has claimed that the fact that an
anonymous friend of Meghan mentioned the letter in a People interview means
that they had the right to publish it. According to Lacey, they did send a
reporter to Thomas Markle’s house in Mexico, trying to track the letter down
after reading about it in People. It does give some credence to the argument
made by Meghan’s legal team that reporters interfered in her family life in a
troubling way.
Harry and
Meghan gave the palace no warning before filing their lawsuits against the
press—and this was a breaking point for the rest of the family. When Meghan and
Harry announced the Associated Newspaper suit and Harry’s decision to sue two
organizations over phone hacking, they did it on a website that didn’t belong
to the palace. Lacey reports that the palace had no advanced warning about the
decision, despite the fact that tradition dictates that a royal family member
should ask the queen permission before moving forward on a legal matter. Lacey
adds that William, who was already angry at his brother for disregarding
tradition when it came to Archie’s birth announcement and Meghan’s British
Vogue issue, and the rest of the family saw this as a line in the sand.
Harry did
give the palace 10 minutes notice before announcing their royal exit, leading
to acrimony and meltdown in the palace. According to Lacey, emotions ran high
inside the summit where Harry would negotiate his future with William, Charles,
the queen, and a few aides. William was so angry that he refused to join for
lunch beforehand, and told friends that he didn’t want to be around to hash out
the details. However, a palace insider told Lacey that the decision to strip
Harry of all his palace-bestowed honors, like honorary military appointments,
was not inevitable and may have been the result of vindictiveness on behalf of
Young, the queen’s palace secretary. It also wasn’t inevitable that they be stripped
of their ability to use their HRH titles or royal status in order to seek
financial independence, but Lacey believes that their impulsive behavior over
the last year had made the queen less forgiving than she might have been when
she made her decision.
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