Meghan Markle was ‘hugely disappointed’ by life in the royal family and as a ‘global superstar’ she ‘hated being told what she could and could not do’, a new book has claimed.
The Duchess of Sussex, 41, who is currently living in her $14 million mansion in California having stepped back from royal duty, held misconceptions about what life in The Firm would be like, according to an insider.
Writing in his new book Gilded Youth, royal biographer Tom Quinn explained he had spoken to a ‘Kensington Palace staffer who remembered Meghan well’, who said she was stunned by the reality of life in the family.
The insider claimed: ‘I don’t think in the whole of history there was ever a greater divide between what someone expected when they became a member of the royal family and what they discovered it was really like.’
‘She was a global superstar but was being told what she could and could not do, what she could and could not say. She hated it.’
Meghan Markle was ‘hugely disappointed’ by life in the royal family and as a ‘global superstar’ she ‘hated being told what she could and could not do’, a source has claimed
Writing in his new book Gilded Youth, royal biographer Tom Quinn claimed a source told him Meghan was ‘dazzled’ by the worldwide fame being a ‘princess’ would bring – but shocked she was ‘never first’ in the pecking order
Meanwhile another person claimed the Duchess was ‘dazzled’ by the worldwide fame being a ‘princess’ would bring, but was shocked that she was ‘never first in the pecking order.’
A third source said Meghan likes to ‘mix exclusively’ with celebrities, adding she was unhappy being treated as ‘a servant of the people’ and not a star.
The Duchess claimed in her bombshell Oprah interview that she ‘never looked up her husband online’ when they first started dating and knew little about the British Royal Family growing up.
And in their Netflix documentary, Meghan claimed she knew nothing about her future beau’s lifestyle and even had to Google the British national anthem.
She admitted that she repeatedly practiced the patriotic rendition of ‘God Save The Queen’, which she had taught herself online, before joining the royal family.
She also said that ‘the wave is not a thing’, claiming that she wasn’t trained to move her hand any special sort of way – but jokingly added she didn’t want to flail her hands ‘like an American’.
It comes after a royal expert claimed Meghan was ‘surprised and disappointed’ that Prince Harry ‘had very little money’.
Royal author Tom Bower appeared on GB News earlier this month, where he spoke to the MailOnline’s Dan Wootton about the couple’s early relationship.
Discussing the Duchess’ misconceptions about the Royal Family, the author – who wrote the 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors – described the former Suits actress as ‘money-obsessed’.
Meghan was ‘surprised and disappointed’ that Prince Harry ‘had very little money’, royal expert Tom Bower claimed. Pictured: the couple in the grounds of Kensington Palace after their engagement was announced in November 2017
The expert said: ‘Her great surprise and disappointment was that Prince Harry had very little money.
‘She had imagined he would be worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, and she is having to make up for it now.’
Describing how the couple could not afford their current lifestyle as working members of the Royal Family, the expert added: ‘She wants to ride in the big Cadillacs, the private jets on command.
‘At the moment she needs to scrounge for those sorts of things.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Tom claimed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s attendance at the coronation has the potential to ‘ruin’ the coronation and ‘overshadow’ King Charles.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expected to be invited to the Coronation on May 6, despite the fallout from Harry’s explosive memoir Spare.
While they were still senior working royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were mostly funded by King Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall estate.
Following the couple’s decision to leave the Firm, it was reported Charles’ £1.2billion Duchy of Cornwall estate paid his youngest son around £2.3million-a-year on average.
However, the couple said this sum covered 95 per cent of their office expenditure.
The remaining five per cent of their annual income came from the taxpayer-funded £82m annual Sovereign Grant, which is handed to the most senior members of the royal family.
The £2.4million refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate was also paid for by this pot, which Prince Harry has since repaid.
When they announced they were stepping down as working royals, the couple pledged in a statement that they wanted to become ‘financially independent while continuing to support Her Majesty The Queen’.
Months later, the couple signed a deal with Netflix and included their explosive six-part documentary series. It was reported the couple were paid up to £88m for the show, which landed on the streaming service last December.
In December 2020, it was reported the couple had signed a £30m podcast deal with Spotify to host their own shows as part of Archewell Audio.
In their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Prince Harry said he had to rely on his inheritance in the wake of Megxit.
He said: ‘I’ve got what my mum left me. Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do this.’
Harry is also reported to have inherited around £20million from his mother, Princess Diana, who died when he was 12. The Queen Mother also left him up to £7million.
Meanwhile, Meghan has a reported personal fortune of £4million, mainly from her acting work and property in Canada.
Before quitting the series to move to the UK, Meghan was reportedly paid $50,000 for every appearance in Suits and went on to star in more than 100 episodes.
In his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, royal biographer Andrew Morton – who penned Diana: Her True Story – claimed Meghan started charging £15,000 for every speaking engagement following her UN speech in March 2015.
Describing how Meghan’s ‘price tag rose’ in line with her celebrity status, the author claims she signed with the elite talent agency Kruger Cowne – which represents Cher, Elle Macpherson and Goldie Hawn – around this time.
Gilded Youth by Tom Quinn published by Biteback, price: £15
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