‘Couldn’t find replacement for me’: Meghan Markle’s former aide Samantha Cohen addresses bullying allegations against Duchess of Sussex
LONDON, ENGLAND: Meghan Markle’s former royal aide, Samantha Cohen, has confirmed that she was one of the 10 royal employees interviewed by Buckingham Palace on allegations of 'bullying' made against the Duchess of Sussex.
As per Newsweek, the Duchess of Sussex was charged with throwing two PAs out of Kensington Palace in a 2018 internal memo that was revealed to the British broadsheet The Times, days before her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Meghan has consistently refuted the accusations.
Samantha Cohen was Meghan's private secretary at the time the allegation was initially lodged, the highest-ranking advisor to a royal.
Samantha Cohen speaks up about bullying allegations against Meghan Markle
Royal aide Samantha Cohen—nicknamed 'Samantha the panther' due to her tough demeanor—worked as Queen Elizabeth's press secretary for 17 years before moving on to become her assistant and private secretary.
She left the royal household in 2019 after serving as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's private secretary for a while.
In an interview with The Herald Sun, Cohen confirmed that she was one of 10 assistants that the Palace spoke with following a bullying complaint made by Harry and Meghan's communications secretary, Jason Knauf, per Page Six.
She admitted: "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 (quit) as well while in Africa."
Cohen, 54, however, declined to address the complaint in any more detail. The Duchess of Sussex's legal team vehemently disputed it.
As a guest at Harry and Meghan's May 2018 wedding, Cohen is believed to have been instrumental in getting Meghan ready for her first public appearance as the Duchess of Sussex—a garden party at Buckingham Palace, per Daily Mail.
Cohen also revealed to the Herald Sun how Queen Elizabeth "loved it" when things went wrong because it "spiced her life up".
"The Queen 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 organized, it spiced her life up when things went wrong," she added.
Cohen noted that the "best times" were traveling with the monarch on her two royal tours of South Australia and Queensland in 2002 and 2011, describing the Queen as a "special woman" whom she misses.
Historian Valentine Low writes in his book 'Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown' that Cohen quit because she was "treated harshly" and compared her job to "working with teenagers".
Meghan Markle's legal team dismissed allegations of bullying royal staff
In October 2018, Harry and Meghan's then-communications assistant, Jason Knauf, reported Meghan Markle's alleged bullying behavior to Prince William's private secretary at the time, Simon Case.
The HR complaint stated: "I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X* was totally unacceptable."
Knauf allegedly added on, "The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y."
The claims were made days before Meghan and Prince Harry had their shocking, sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, during which the Orchard Riviera founder claimed that life in the royal family was "almost unsurvivable".
In response to allegations of bullying made by two royal staff members during their employment, Queen Elizabeth II privately commissioned an independent investigator to conduct an HR assessment in March 2021.
Claiming the accusations to be a "calculated smear campaign," Meghan's legal team refuted any claims of bullying.
Meghan has allegedly been accused of treating people poorly and making her assistants cry that they quit, per the New York Post.
The investigation came to an end in June 2022, and although a top royal assistant stated that the results led to reforms, they would never be made public.
