'DUCHESS DIFFICULT'
Meghan Markle ‘screamed down phone’ at florist who ‘vowed to never work with her again’, claim ex-royal staff
Former employees claimed she treated staff like 's***'
MEGHAN Markle allegedly "screamed down the phone" at a florist who vowed to never work with her again, ex-royal staff claimed.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was said to have yelled for 30 minutes at the person who sells and arranges cut flowers.
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They reportedly posted details online about a bouquet they were working on for Meghan.
However the florist apparently never actually identified that the Duchess was their client.
An unnamed source told : "They vowed never to work with her again, despite the prestige of having her as a client.
"If you were working for her, you were often treated like a tradesman who could be treated like s***."
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It comes after Meghan was hit by a fresh wave of allegations from former employees and was branded a "demon" boss who had "psycho moments".
Earlier this week a former courtier who worked for the Sussexes claimed during their time with the duchess "there definitely were bad, very bad, even psycho moments."
The unnamed source is quoted as saying: "I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s**t", as reported by The Daily Beast website.
It comes at an incredibly awkward time as Meghan is about to launch a cookery show and cook book to go alongside her new lifestyle brand, named American Riviera Orchard.
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The former employee who spoke to The Daily Beast dismissed the Us Weekly article as a cynical exercise saying: "She is lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns.";
It follows a recent story in another US publication, The Hollywood Reporter, that described Meghan's management style as like a "dictator in high heels" who reduced "grown men to tears".
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There were also claims that she "barks" out orders and sends angry emails at 5am.
An insider told The Sun: "The Sussexes were left reeling by The Hollywood Reporter's story.
"It appears that the Us Weekly story was sanctioned by the couple as even Archewell's current global head of communications, Ashley Hansen, was quoted by name."
Meghan's team were already trying to dismiss those earlier allegations — said to be gleaned from a number of current and former staff.
Five current and former employees of Meghan went on the record to defend her, saying she is the "best boss ever".
Us Weekly, a magazine known to be friendly to the royal couple, went in to bat for them with an article headlined "What It's Really Like To Work For Meghan Markle: Staffers Reveal Truth Behind Rumours".
The article was widely dismissed as a puff piece, with speculation it was potentially orchestrated by Meghan's PR team.
Speculation was sparked in August when the Sussexes Chief of Staff Josh Kettler joined a long list of staff who left the couple.
In July, Prince Harry's charity chief Dominic Reid quit his role as chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation.
His departure came just days after Harry was blasted for choosing to accept the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2024 ESPYS.
Meanwhile Bennett Levine, their manager of Archewell Productions, left earlier this year.
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And the Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning quit as head of internal content at the company in January last year.
The Sun has approached the Sussexes for comment.
Sussex staff resignations
By Robert Jobson
AN astonishing 18 members of staff have quit working for them in just a few years — nine since they moved to Montecito, California.
In late 2018, Meghan's personal assistant Melissa Toubati quit.
It also emerged senior communications secretary Katrina McKeever left the Press team the same month.
Not long after, private secretary Samantha Cohen resigned.
In January 2019 Meghan's female bodyguard of six months, who has never been named for security reasons, also quit.
By March, senior communications secretary Jason Knauf jumped ship and went to work for Prince William and Kate's Royal Foundation.
Meghan also went through three nannies in just six weeks after baby son Archie was born in May 2019.
Harry and Meghan's PR chief Sarah Latham left the couple after they quit the UK in 2020.
Meghan parted ways with talent agent Nick Collins, of The Gersh Agency, who was with her since she was a struggling actress.
And her close friend Keleigh Thomas-Morgan, a partner at Hollywood PR firm Sunshine Sachs, split from Meghan after the couple moved to the US.
The Sussexes recruited Toya Holness, former communications chief for New York City Department of Education, but she lasted 18 months and left shortly after the Invictus Games in 2022.
Just a year after their Megxit dash, Catherine St-Laurent was ousted as chief executive of their charitable foundation Archewell.
Meanwhile, Mandana Dayani, who was made president of Archewell, stepped down after less than 18 months in her role.
Oscar-nominated film producer Ben Browning was named head of content at Archewell in March 2021.
The foundation was supposed to be producing documentaries and podcasts.
But podcast Archetypes was dropped by Spotify and he left in January 2023.
Two months earlier, Rebecca Sanares left her role as head of audio at Archewell.
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