They may have upped sticks and moved to California four years ago, but Meghan Markle and Prince Harry still can’t seem to find their feet. Despite several attempts to revamp their public image, with an Oprah interview, a short-lived Spotify deal, a Netflix series, a memoir and an aspirational lifestyle brand, there is still something precluding people from fully embracing the couple.

It doesn’t help that they have lost 18 staff members since they got married in 2018. In August, the couple’s chief of staff, Josh Kettler, reportedly resigned after just three months. He joins Toya Holness, their former global press secretary who left in 2022, Christine Weil, who quit as head of PR in 2021 and Samantha Cohen, Markle’s top aide and private secretary who left the same year. As well as Keleigh Thomas Morgan, who briefly repped the couple after first working with Markle during her time on Suits, Catherine St Laurent, who spent a year as the head of the Sussexes’ charity Archewell, Mandana Dayani, the charity’s former COO, Ben Browning, who worked as their content chief and Fara Taylor, their former marketing chief.

When you put it like that – it doesn’t look good. The Hollywood Reporter’s damning deep-dive into the couple’s staffing issue labels this group of former employees the ‘Sussex Survivors Club’. But what exactly are they surviving? According to the ‘close source’ listed in the report, ‘everyone’s terrified of Meghan’. The source goes on to say, ‘She belittles people, she doesn’t take advice. They’re both poor decision makers, they change their minds frequently.’ Later adding that while Harry is a ‘very charming person’ he is also ‘an enabler’, and Markle is ‘just terrible’.

The article went on to cite ‘noisy tantrums’ and ‘angry 5am emails’ as the reason for Markle’s title of ‘Duchess Difficult’. One source went as far as to say, ‘She marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders. I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears.’ If ever there was need for a loyal PR staffer…

And it’s not the first time claims of this nature have surfaced. In 2018, Markle’s alleged treatment of two royal aides prompted Buckingham Palace to investigate her ‘bullying behaviour’. The results of which were never published and Markle dismissed the investigation as a ‘calculated smear campaign’. Something she has arguably become all too accustomed to since marrying into the royal family; airing her grievances with ‘the firm’ and the British media in the couple’s Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, in 2022.

In an ostensive counter report, US Weekly claims to have spoken to one of the couple’s current staff members who called the allegations ‘wildly inaccurate’ and ‘damaging’. Instead, the source said Prince Harry and Markle were the ‘best bosses [they have] ever had’, while an ex-staffer said working with the couple was ‘truly an honour’. Meanwhile, Kettler, who left in August after three months, went on record to say the couple were ‘dedicated and hardworking’ and ‘it was impressive to witness’. The anonymous current employee chalked the Sussexes’ staff turnover up to inevitable career changes. ‘People leave at any company,’ they said, ‘they get new opportunities, change their careers or feel their role isn’t the right fit.’

So, who to believe? The Hollywood Reporter’s co-editor-in-chief Maer Roshan, for his part, has said he stands by the story after facing backlash from the couple’s friends and supporters. As well as Markle herself, who has previously denied all claims of bullying staff.

Unfortunately for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, this is exactly the type of press they work so hard to avoid, and the type of press it takes a team of experienced and loyal staff to tackle in the right way. What’s clear is that there is a growing discrepancy between the couple’s manicured public image and what allegedly goes on behind closed doors.