A new royal book has made a series of explosive revelations about royal life inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ’s inner circle during their last few months in The Firm.
The book claims to lift the lid on life behind the Palace walls from Prince Harry’s fear of slipping into irrelevance to controversy of a pair of Meghan's earrings gifted by a Saudi prince.
The Sussexes’ final few years as royals were rocked by ups and downs to the extent that their own staff branded themselves the ‘Sussex Survivors’ Club’.
Written by The Times' royal correspondent Valentine Low, Courtiers: the Hidden Power Behind the Crown claims to reveal the reality of life behind palace walls before the couple left it all behind.
Meghan and Harry stepped away from royal life in 2020 and now live in California, and have both have been openly critical of their life with The Firm.
Meghan made allegations of racism and revealed how she became suicidal during her time in the Royal Family in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey that rocked the monarchy.
According to Low's new book, relations behind palace walls were heading downhill fast back when Meghan and Harry were working royals.
Here are five explosive claims from the new royal book.
Harry and Meghan's staff 'left in tears'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's staff were left in tears when they discovered the couple had secretly made plans to escape royal life, the book claimed.
Harry and Meghan stepped down from royal life in early 2020 and after a brief stay in Canada, settled in the United States.
The book claims that when Harry and Meghan went to Canada for six weeks in November 2019, they had already made their plan to leave the royal family.
"Shortly before the end of the year, Meghan confided in a member of her staff that the couple were not coming back. The rest of the team did not find out until they held a meeting at Buckingham Palace at the beginning of January 2020. They found it hard to accept they were being dumped just like that. Some of them were in tears. 'It was a very loyal team,' said one."
In the US they lived in a mansion provided, along with security, by Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry.
Secret kept from the nanny
When the Sussexes did leave, so much secrecy surrounded their trip that even some of the staff closest to them had no clue about their final destination.
The couple's nanny, according to the royal book, had no idea where the family she had worked for were heading to until their private jet was in the air.
The book claims the plans were made with the "greatest secrecy" - so much so that Meghan wouldn't even inform their nanny, Lorren, where they were going.
In an extract of 'Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown', Mr Low writes: "When Harry and Meghan went to Canada for their six-week break in November 2019, their escape plans were already laid, amid the greatest secrecy.
"Meghan would not even tell their nanny, Lorren, where they were going. According to one source, she did not know where they were going until the plane — a private jet — was in the air."
Harry's 'spectacularly rude' comment during tour
Prince Harry made a "spectacularly rude" comment to journalists who were covering a royal visit to the South Pacific in 2018, the book claims.
The Duke and Duchess spent just over two weeks travelling around Australia, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand as apart of their first royal tour, four years ago.
They were popular during the tour and huge crowds turned out to see them as they attended a massive 76 royal engagements.
However, the trip was soured by comments made by the Duke of Sussex. During a five-hour flight from Tonga to Sydney, Harry's press handlers promised he was thank the media for being there.
But when the prince did finally appear the plane had landed and Harry "sounded rushed" as he told reporters "thanks for coming". The prince then reportedly added: "Even though you weren't invited."
An extract reads: "This was spectacularly rude — and incorrect. The media had been invited to cover the tour."
Harry's staff are later said to have told him "how badly" the comment had been received, to which he reportedly replied: “Well, you shouldn’t have made me do it.”
Royal aides 'too scared' to confront Meghan over Saudi gifted earrings
Royal aides were 'too scared' to confront Meghan over earrings gifted to her by Saudi Arabia's crown prince just weeks after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Duchess reportedly received a pair of decadent diamond earrings from Mohammed bin Salman as a wedding present.
Then, despite reports implicating the Saudi royal in Khashoggi's murder, she allegedly shocked staff by wearing them to a state dinner in Fiji in 2018.
The Washington Post columnist was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2 that year, as he was picking up documents allowing him to marry his fiancée.
The book said: "When they [the earrings] had first appeared in the media after the Fiji dinner, staff in London responsible for registering details of all royal gifts had recognised them and alerted Kensington Palace.
He then quotes a source saying: "We made a decision not to confront Meghan and Harry on it, out of fear for what their reaction would be."
Lawyers previously said that Meghan was unaware of the rumours at the time.
Royal staff 'branded Meghan narcissistic sociopath'
Prince Harry and Meghan's team dubbed themselves the Sussex Survivors' Club and branded the Duchess of Sussex a "narcissistic sociopath", according to the new book.
Relations with the couple and team reportedly deteriorated with tensions flaring after Harry made a rude comment to the press on a royal tour of the South Pacific.
Low writes: "So bad did things eventually become that Harry and Meghan’s team would later refer to themselves as the Sussex Survivors’ Club."
The book adds: "Sources say the team came up with a damning epithet for Meghan: a 'narcissistic sociopath'. They also reportedly said on repeated occasions: 'We were played.'"
The Mirror has contacted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's representatives for comment.
