EXCLUSIVE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'Destroyed' Palace Working Morale and Left Staff Members 'Deeply Unhappy to the Point of Walking Away'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were accused of 'actively destroying' the Kensington Palace work environment.
Feb. 26 2026, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were accused of creating a hostile work environment when she married into the royal family, destroying the bonds that Prince William and Kate Middleton worked so hard to foster, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The demanding duo's harsh treatment led to the resignations of several Kensington Palace staffers, setting the stage for William to divide the royal households to shield his employees from Harry and Markle's reign of terror.
'People Were Being Ground Down' by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
There was already tension between the couples, seen here two months before Prince Harry and Markle's wedding.
"(William and Catherine) had assembled a happy team and cultivated a good working environment that was being actively destroyed on a daily basis. People were being ground down by both Meghan and Harry," a palace insider told author Russell Myers for his new biography, William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story.
Another source claimed Harry was "overblown" in his claim William got physical with his brother during an argument over how "rude" and "difficult" Markle was toward staffers. The Duke of Sussex described the incident in his inflammatory 2023 memoir, Spare, alleging that his brother pushed him into a dog food bowl on the floor and broke his necklace.
"It was a cheap shot [from Harry] to present such an argument. Tensions were running very high, and yes, there certainly were cross words exchanged that, on reflection, were regrettable, but the prince [William] is adamant there was no physical violence," the insider shared.
A Deepening Divide
Prince William confronted his brother over Markle's alleged rude treatment of the palace staff.
Myers writes that "The context of the fracas is, however, not debated."
While sources close to William could not confirm the exact language he used to describe Markle as "difficult," "rude," and ‘abrasive" during the exchange, "it would have been a fair assessment if he did," one revealed.
Another insider said, "It wasn’t peddling a tabloid narrative to stick up for staff who were deeply unhappy to the point of walking away or having their mental health being affected."
Whatever words were exchanged during the altercation, Myers writes that "the stage had already been set for a parting of ways" between the brothers' royal households.
Prince William and Kate Middleton Were 'Affected' by The Sussex's Treatment of Staffers
Prince William and Kate Middleton were gutted by how his brother and Markle treated their former staffers.
"William and Catherine had fostered a very nice working environment for everyone in their office; they made sure people had a decent amount of time off, they remembered birthdays and celebrated anniversaries, that sort of thing. They didn't need to work at this; it’s just who they are," a palace source said about how the Prince and Princess of Wales interacted with their team.
Several of their much-loved staffers were moved to work for Harry and Markle before and after their May 2018 wedding, and the future king and queen were horrified by how miserably the newlyweds treated them.
"Then, when they discovered that people were being treated badly, it had a direct effect on them because many of these people had previously worked for them, so they wanted to do something about it immediately."
The Sussexes 'Had an Agenda'
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Markle glared at Middleton during a Royal Foundation forum in February 2018 ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry.
Myers writes that after Harry married the former actress, "things were undeniably different," and that one source suggested William and Kate "felt the Sussexes had an agenda."
"They definitely thought the Sussexes’ behavior stemmed from something more than being difficult. The whole atmosphere between them was pretty toxic," an insider said.
"Meghan was being bullish, Kate found her abrasive. There was definitely a hope from her side [Catherine’s] that William could try and talk to Harry and settle things, but that didn’t exactly happen."
After William was unable to get through to his brother about his wife's mistreatment of staff, Kate, who had just given birth to their third child, Prince Louis, realized there wasn't much more they could do.
"At the end of the day, she had three young children, who were her focus, and if anything, she saw the inevitability of the parting of ways, although perhaps not to the extent of what eventually happened," the source spilled.
Harry and Markle quit the royal family in January 2020 after less than 20 months as senior working royals and moved to her native California.
