Queen Elizabeth 'Put Meghan Markle in Her Place' After Hearing 'Diva Duchess' Was 'Rude to One of the Gardeners,' Historian Claims
Meghan Markle 'needed to be put in her place' by the queen after allegedly being rude to a gardener.
April 15 2026, Published 4:31 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle allegedly bullied a gardener while she was a member of the royal family, and Queen Elizabeth II personally put a stop to it, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Hugo Vickers, a royal historian and the author of a new biography about the monarch, said he absolutely "knows" the story to be "true," and claimed the queen personally scolded Markle for how rudely she treated the staff in Windsor, England.
Queen Elizabeth 'Tore a Strip Off' Meghan Markle for Being Mean
The queen was not amused by how Meghan Markle allegedly treated the Windsor gardening staff.
"She, apparently, was rude to one of the undergardeners, and the head gardener went up to the queen and reported this," Vickers explained on the Daily T podcast, as host Camilla Tominey audibly gasped. "And the queen got into her car and went down and tore a strip off her because you cannot be rude to staff, you know."
"See, she didn't know how to behave with staff," Vickers told Tominey about Markle. "She'd been rude to the gardener, so she needed to be ticked off, put in her place."
Queen Elizabeth Allegedly Scolded Meghan Markle Over Rude Behavior to Staff
The queen reportedly called out Meghan Markle after she was rude to her wedding caterers.
Vickers' revelation about the gardener situation is not the first time the queen reportedly became frustrated with the former actress and had to intervene after she allegedly treated staffers poorly.
“On one occasion in the run-up to the wedding, Meghan went to Windsor Castle for a menu-tasting and ended up having a tense exchange with a member of staff,” author Katie Nicholls wrote in her 2025 book, The New Royals.
"Meghan was at the castle to taste some of the dishes, and told one of the caterers she could taste egg,” the source claimed, which made the California native "upset" as she demanded that the dish be "vegan and macrobiotic."
When the queen learned of Markle's behavior, she "suddenly walked in" and told her, "in this family we don’t speak to people like that," according to the tell-all.
Meghan Markle Hit With Claims She Bullied Palace Staff Members
Buckingham Palace launched an investigation into claims Meghan Markle bullied her staff members.
Markle earned the nickname "Duchess Difficult" shortly after her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, when some palace staff claimed she was a nightmare to work for, firing off demanding emails as early as 5 a.m.
She was accused of driving away employees to such an extent that the Sussexes' then-communications secretary, Jason Knauf, sent a worried email to Prince William's private secretary and the head of human resources for the royal household.
“I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year," Knauf wrote. "The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence.”
The palace kept the bullying allegations under wraps until the email was leaked in March 2021. An internal review of the claims was done, although the results remain private to this day.
Markle's rep denied the allegations, calling the reports a "calculated smear campaign."
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'A Dictator in High Heels'
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have seen a number of staffers flee their employment since leaving royal life.
Whispers about Markle's cruel treatment of employees followed her across the pond after she and Harry moved to Montecito, California, in 2020.
A September 2024 exposé by The Hollywood Reporter examined the incredibly high turnover in the couple's household and company.
"She’s absolutely relentless. She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears," one Sussex insider told the outlet.
A second added, "Everyone’s terrified of Meghan. She belittles people; she doesn’t take advice. They’re both poor decision-makers; they change their minds frequently. Harry is a very, very charming person — no airs at all — but he’s very much an enabler. And she’s just terrible.”
