Prince Harry allegedly carried out “loyalty tests” on his “exhausted” aides while working as a royal, an author has claimed. The Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle stepped down as working royals in March 2020, and have since issued a series of broadsides against the family.
Harry has regularly spoken out about the press, and claimed he thought Meghan would die like his mother Princess Diana, which he blames on the tabloids.
But Valentine Low, royal author, said the Duke had an “obsession with the media” that prompted him to carry out “loyalty tests” on his palace aides.
“If he had a beef with the media, he’d want them to pursue it,” Low claimed.
“They would often say, ‘Harry, don’t pick this fight. This fight’s not worth having. You don’t have to pursue every slight that’s been done towards you.’
“And if you didn’t pursue it with the kind of energy that he sought, he could question your loyalty.”
Low also told Fox News Digital: “He wondered if you’d become one of them, one of the others from the other royal households who protected the institution … and not the individual.”
In his book, ‘Courtiers: Intrigue, Ambition, and the Power Players Behind the House of Windsor’, a source alleged to Low that Harry’s “permanent sense of frustration” took a toll on those who worked for the royal family.
“He would use this phrase the whole time, ‘the palace syndrome,’ when you won’t fight the battles he wants, because you have been institutionalised,” the source claimed.
“Giving in to the media was a key symptom of whether you had developed it. The team fighting all these battles: it was a constant test of loyalty.
“‘Are you going to protect me? Or have you just become one of them, who won’t fight for me?’ It was exhausting.”
READ MORE: Harry and Meghan ‘can expect same treatment as Beatrice’ – expert
It comes after a royal expert suggested that Harry and Meghan did not expect any backlash to ‘Spare’.
“It’s very difficult to speak for Harry and Meghan in terms of what their overall objective was with the Netflix docuseries, with the book,” Victoria Arbiter said.
“I think Harry with his book in particular was very keen to get his side of the story across, so mission accomplished in that regard.
“He doesn’t hold anything back, as anyone who has read the book knows.
“He’s very willing to share every facet of his life. In that regard, I think yes, he has achieved his objective but I don’t think the book was received quite how he was hoping.”
DON’T MISS
Meanwhile, ahead of King Charles III’ coronation on May 6, reports say the monarch wants Harry to attend.
While official invites have not been sent out, the King is said to want his son and wife to be in attendance despite Harry’s bombshells about the royals in his memoir ‘Spare’.
“Charles is a forgiving person by nature, and he wants to move on,” a source told Vanity Fair.
“Whatever has been said and done, Harry is still his son and he loves him.
“He also cannot imagine being crowned, the most important moment of his life, without both his sons witnessing the moment.”
