Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s ex-aide has taken a brutal swipe at the couple, saying that working with them was “like working with teenagers”.
Samantha Cohen resigned from her role as private secretary to Harry and Meghan in 2019, a job that she had taken on at the request of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Ms Cohen had previously spent 17 years working as the press secretary for the late Queen.
According to historian Valentine Low’s book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, Samantha had resigned after being “treated harshly” and likened the job to “working with teenagers”.
In an interview with the Herald Sun, she also claimed that she had worked in the job for three times longer than she had originally planned because officials were struggling to find someone to replace her.
Speaking to the publication, Samantha said: “I was only supposed to stay for six months but stayed for 18 – we couldn’t find a replacement for me and when we did we took them on tour to Africa with Harry and Meghan to show them the ropes but they left as well while in Africa.”
Harry and Meghan embarked on a 10-day tour with their son Prince Archie in 2019 – a trip that would be their last as senior working royals.
The tour began in Cape Town in South Africa, and saw the couple and Archie also visit Botswana, Angola and Malawai.
In an ITV documentary filmed during the visit, Meghan told broadcaster Tom Bradby that courtiers failed to ask if she was “okay” and admitted to struggling with royal life.
She claimed that she had been struggling to cope with the intense media scrutiny and that she was “existing not living”.
Speaking to the Herald Sun, Samantha also spoke of her time working for the late Queen, who she described as having “no ego”.
Ms Cohen said: “The Queen [Elizabeth] had no ego, she was so comfortable in herself, yet she loved it when things went wrong.
“If a cake was not cutting, or a plaque didn’t unveil, because everything was so perfectly organised, it spiced her life up when things went wrong.”
Just a few months after their African tour, Meghan and Harry announced their decision to step down as senior working royals.
The couple undertook their final royal engagement in March 2020, and moved to the US shortly after with their son.
The couple now reside in California with Archie, who turns five next month, and their two-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet.
