After two decades in the Royal Family, Samantha Cohen left her position as the Sussexes' right-hand woman, a year and a half after starting to work with them
Before his departure from the United Kingdom and the British Royal Family, there were a series of movements that indicated that something was not quite right between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Palace. Her trusted team on British soil was gradually abandoned from their positions while accusations of alleged unacceptable behavior and harassment by Meghan Markle towards her staff surfaced.
A matter that caused Buckingham Palace to open an internal investigation that was kept secret to preserve the confidentiality of those who participated in it, active workers at that time and former staff of the Sussexes, and which ended up archived. Now, one of the people closest to Meghan at that time has spoken about what she said when she was questioned to clarify what had happened.
Samantha Cohen (54), who worked for almost two decades at the Palace and was only a year and a half as Meghan Markle and Harry's personal secretary, has told the Australian newspaper Herald Sun that she was one of the ten workers who were questioned about the alleged case of bullying by the Duchess. Although she refused to give more details, Cohen has assured that there was a lot of staff turnover in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's office. “I was only supposed to stay six months, but I stayed 18; "We couldn't find a replacement for me and when we did, we took that person on a tour to Africa with Harry and Meghan to show them how everything worked, but he didn't accept the job," she said.
The news of Meghan's alleged harassment of her team was first made public days before the explosive television interview that she and her husband gave to Oprah Winfrey in 2021. The Times reported that on some occasions, the Duchess made people cry. members of staff during their time living at Kensington Palace. The truth is that the departure of Cohen, known as The Panther for her feisty attitude, only fueled the rumors that it was difficult to work with Meghan. The Telegraph claimed that at least fourteen people had left their jobs since the couple got married (2018). Several British media claimed that the Duchess of Sussex got up at 4:30 a.m. to do yoga and from five in the morning it was common for her to start sending emails to her staff with very specific requests, which were usually repeated five or six times a day. day and had them terrified.
When these allegations became public, Meghan denied the allegations and a representative told HELLO! that “the Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her person, especially as someone who has been the target of harassment and who is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”
Prince Harry in his book Into the Shadow also talked about this episode. “The stories began to arrive like waves to the shore. First, a defamatory and absurd article written by a biographer of my father who claimed that I had had a tantrum before the wedding. Then another that was pure fiction and according to which Meg (Meghan) treated the staff badly, she used a heavy hand and committed the unforgivable sin of sending emails to people at ungodly hours.
(What happened was that she was usually awake at that time, trying to keep in touch with her late-night friends in the United States, but she wasn't expecting an immediate response. In fact, Harry in his story says that his wife "sent thank-you notes from in his own handwriting, he cared about employees who were sick, he sent baskets of food, flowers or gifts to anyone who was going through a bad time, depressed or sick and was not going to work.
Regarding the resignation of his trusted person, the Prince said in his biography: “It was also said that (Meghan) had made our assistant leave when in reality it had been the Human Resources department of the Royal Household that had asked to resign after we provided evidence that the assistant in question had used her position with Meg to obtain gifts. However, since we couldn't talk about the reasons for her departure, rumors filled the gaps and, in many ways, that was the real beginning of all the problems. Shortly after, the story of the 'difficult duchess' began to make its way into the press."
