PRINCE William felt that Meghan Markle had an agenda from an early stage in her relationship with Prince Harry, a royal biographer has claimed.
Speaking in a documentary, the author of Battle of Brothers, Robert Lacey, said that the claim came from a source close to William.
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In tonight’s ITV documentary, Harry & William: What Went Wrong?, Mr Lacey says: “Someone close to William told me William felt from an early stage that Meghan had an agenda”, the Daily Mail reports.
This is far from the first report of William’s attitude toward the Duchess of Sussex.
In Mr Lacey’s book, he claimed that Prince William raged at Meghan’s “merciless” treatment of staff and called her “that bloody woman”.
In the book, he writes that conflict between Princess Diana’s “two bitterly divided sons does not seem likely to end any time soon”.
Lacey said that Prince William will have no choice “but to swallow his pride and smile” beside his sister-in-law Meghan on next year’s Platinum Jubilee balcony.
“According to one of my sources, it’s been pointed to him that everyone has a difficult sister-in-law,” he writes in the Daily Mail.
“William’s response was to nod his head in sage acceptance. Then suddenly he broke out angrily. ‘But look at the way that bloody woman treated my staff — merciless!’”
Mr Lacey also claimed that the Duke of Cambridge was “not impressed” with Meghan and Harry’s “prima donna” attempts to keep their son Archie’s birth a secret.
“William did not think too highly of Harry and Meghan’s ‘prima donna’ manoeuvres to conceal the birth of their son in May 2019,” Lacey wrote.
“This impression was confirmed by the failure of William and Kate to visit the new arrival for a full eight days.”
William and wife Kate did eventually meet baby Archie – more than a week after he was born.
Meghan’s labour was announced eight hours after she had delivered the royal baby.
The public first learned that Meghan had gone into labour just before 2pm afternoon when it was reported by Sky News.
This was a huge break from what we would usually be expected from the royal household with all three of the Cambridge births being announced by the palace.
Also featured in the documentary that is to air tonight is the co-author of Finding Freedom, a biography of Prince Harry and Meghan.
In the documentary, he claims that Prince William’s staff planted stories that he was worried about his brother’s mental health.
The behind the scenes briefings were made after the Duke of Sussex sensationally told ITV’s Tom Brady the pair were on “different paths”, Harry’s biographer Omid Scobie alleges.
Harry hinted at the strained relationship in an ITV documentary about him and Meghan Markle during their ten-day tour of Africa with son Archie in 2019.
“I would say that it was no coincidence that it was shortly after that aired, even the next day, there were source quotes that came from a senior aide at Kensington Palace saying that William was worried about his brother’s mental health,” Scobie said.
“That fed off such an ugly thing for Harry and it did not go unnoticed. Now whether William directed that or not, no one will ever know, but it came from his household that he is the boss of.”
But he did not provide evidence to support his claims that palace aides or anyone connected to William was responsible for the alleged briefings.
Scobie has been an outspoken defender of the Duchess of Sussex and he told the programme she came into the Royal family “driven and ready to work and that immediately ruffled feathers”.
“She’s a woman well into her 30s: I think she’s proven to herself and the people she’s worked with up until that point that she knows what she’s doing,” he said.
“She was certainly not someone who was going to change herself just to please the people around her.
“I felt they also had to be reminded: ‘You’re not the stars of the show here. There is a hierarchy and you don’t come very high in it’.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Buckingham Palace have been contacted for comment.
