The Cambridge Vs. Sussex feud has been a hot topic of discussion for the past few years, with royal observers following each new development with eagle-eyed focus.
However, there are some things about the royal rift that may just shock even the biggest royal-ophiles.
WATCH: Prince William responds to Meghan and Harry’s explosive Oprah interview
From claims Meghan and Harry “screamed” at their staff to Prince William going “ballistic”, here Royals Monthly shares some of the most eye-popping excerpts from Robert Lacey’s book, Battle of Brothers, that shed new light on the feud tearing the firm apart.
1. A TOXIC ENVIRONMENT
Several people maintained they had been ‘humiliated’ by the duchess – and that criticism extended to Harry as well.
“I overheard a conversation between Harry and one of his top aides,” alleged one Kensington Palace courtier. “Harry was screaming and screaming down the phone. Team Sussex was a really toxic environment. People shouting and screaming in each other’s faces.”
According to one courtier, Meghan governed by fear.
“So many people said it. Nothing was ever good enough for her. Humiliated staff in meetings, [would] shout at them, [would] cut them off email chains – and then demand to know why they hadn’t done anything.”
2. WILLIAM WENT BALLISTIC
Prince William was furious when he first heard about Meghan allegedly bulling Kensington Palace staff. In the book, a royal correspondent explains how William ‘went ballistic’.
“I remember Christian Jones [William’s press secretary and later private secretary] explaining to me how the Cams are paternalistic with their staff. They’re proud to treat their staff like family. They recognise that they don’t get paid loads of money, so they are just really nice to them. So this was a very deep clash of philosophies, with Meghan being used to a Hollywood service culture – getting exactly what she wanted whenever she wanted.”
3. FIERCE SHOWDOWN
After learning of the bullying allegations, William is said to have called Harry immediately. “…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,” Robert writes.
“Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went straight round to find his brother on the Kensington campus. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say. The showdown between the two siblings was fierce and bitter.”
4. KATE WAS WARY FROM THE START
William was upset that she (Meghan) seemed to be stealing his beloved brother away from him. Robert writes: “For William, (Jason) Knauf’s allegations also clarified something that the prince had long suspected – that Meghan was fundamentally hostile towards the royal system, which she failed to understand as an outsider. William wondered if she had not wanted to leave from the very start – even dreaming, perhaps, that she could whisk Harry back with her to North America.
“But now William had seen enough of his sister-in-law to feel sure that, sadly, he did know her and that many of his reservations linked unhappily with what Knauf’s colleagues had alleged. William believed Meghan was following a plan – ‘agenda’ was the word he used to his friend – and the accusations he had just heard were alarming. Kate, he said, had been wary of her from the start.”
WATCH: Prince Harry and Prince William unveil the new Princess Diana statue on her 60th birthday (Article continues after video)
5. FREE HARRY
Fed up courtiers came up with and would often use the hashtag– #freeHarry. It was only half a joke. “Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” alleged one Kensington Palace staffer, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist.”
6. GET OUT!
While is has long been reported that it was Harry and Meghan who opted to go their separate ways, Robert reveals that it was in fact William who made the call.
“He certainly wanted Meghan removed, for a start, from the hitherto harmonious joint household that he and his brother had established together as far back as 2009. William simply did not want her or Harry around any more. It was William who made the decisive move.
“Following his furious confrontation with his younger brother in the autumn of 2018, the prince instructed Simon Case to start the process of dividing their two households immediately. William wished to be separated from Meghan on a day-to-day basis – and that meant being separated from his brother as well. ‘William,’ says a friend, ‘threw Harry out.’”
7. HEAVEN HELP YOU!
One Los Angeles screenwriter told Robert during his research that the Duchess of Sussex “does not cope well with what she perceives as rejection.”
“She’s nice and smiley as can be until you step in her way or don’t give her what she hopes for. Then she can be remorseless – heaven help you!”
8. KEEPING THEIR DISTANCE
At their grandfather’s funeral, William made sure he kept his distance from his brother.
“William and his grandmother worked out together how, in all the circumstances, he could not possibly walk in harmony with Harry behind his grandfather’s coffin in the way that he might have done in the past,” Robert pens.
“The device of recruiting cousin Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s beefy son, to serve as a diplomatic buffer between the two brothers had been deployed before — two years earlier at the Easter Sunday service at Windsor in April 2019, after William and Harry had gone public with the news that they were splitting their combined households.”
9. OPRAH WHO?
She may be the Queen of talk-show TV but, turns out, Princess Diana never had much time for Oprah Winfrey.
“Diana felt very uncomfortable with Oprah,” alleged her friend and confidante, Simone Simmons.
“She thought that Oprah was only after sensationalism – like when she interviewed Fergie about her book, and all she wanted to talk about was Diana. That laid bare for Diana that she was just (hoping to) garner higher ratings.”
10. PRINCESS OF PRANKS
Desperate to get an interview with the Princess of Wales, Oprah flew to London in the mid 1990s to try and secure a sit-down. But Diana had other things in mind.
“She invited Oprah to Kensington Palace and issued special instructions to her chef, Darren McGrady,” Robert writes.
“Diana asked McGrady to prepare his famous tomato mousse. After a few mouthfuls Oprah put down her spoon to ask, ‘Diana, how do you stay so slim eating rich food like this?’ ‘I just eat small portions,’ replied Diana demurely, ‘and I work out.’ But that was not quite the full story. Diana had instructed McGrady to prepare and serve her with a fat-free version of the mousse, while Oprah was served with the full-fat dish, loaded with mayonnaise, sour cream and a dollop of heavy cream as well.”
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