Difficult Duchess! Meghan Markle Loses Key Close Aide Samantha Cohen
The secretary will leave the position before the birth of the new Royal baby.
Dec. 8 2018, Updated 11:32 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle is set to lose another important aide.
The Sunday Times newspaper is reporting that respected private secretary Samantha Cohen, 50, will leave her position.
This comes after Markle's personal assistant, Melissa Touabti, who had played a key role in her wedding preparations, quit after six months in her job.
Nicknamed "Samantha the Panther", Cohen, who is Australian, has spent 17 years working for the royal family and was formerly one of the Queen's most trusted aides as assistant private secretary and communications secretary.
The trusted aide only joined the Sussex household on an interim basis earlier this year.
"Sam will be a huge loss," said a source who knows the Duchess.
"Going forward, Meghan might need someone cut from a slightly different cloth to traditional courtiers, who is not a career civil servant or royal insider".
The move comes as speculation grows that the former America actress is tough to work for.
Meghan has spoken of rising at 4.30am to do yoga, which she says is "so good for healing your mind".
She is reported to send ideas and requests to palace staff as early as 5am.
"Meghan needs someone with reserves of energy and patience to help her define her future role," the source added.
RadarOnline.com reported on a rift between Prince Harry and Prince William over how much support Meghan was receiving.
Cohen was the first woman to hold the press secretary's job and was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by the Queen in 2016.
She resigned from Buckingham Palace last year following the acrimonious ousting of Sir Christopher, now Lord Geidt, then the Queen's private secretary.
The shake-up was attributed to tension between courtiers at Buckingham Palace and the Prince of Wales's office at Clarence House.
Cohen, who was fiercely loyal to Geidt, was later persuaded to stay on as a temporary replacement for Edward Lane Fox, Harry's former private secretary.
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