Meghan Markle, Prince Harry accused of carrying out 'loyalty tests' on their staff

Prince Harry's staff ‘felt sick’ after the Duke carried out 'loyalty tests' on them whilst he was a working member of the Royal Family, according to a new book.

Author Valentine Low in new his book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, has written: "This was brewing for a long time - before Meghan. Harry had this obsession with the media. He was so very unhappy."

An excerpt from the book reads: “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. Giving in to the media was a key symptom of whether you had developed it."

The book adds: "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."

"Harry’s obsession with the media; his sense of frustration that he wasn’t achieving everything that he could; his mistrust of the courtiers in the other households; the constant loyalty tests of his own staff: all of this was there before Meghan arrived on the scene.

“But after she turned up, it would get significantly worse.” On staff, Mr Low added: “It was a very difficult experience for many of them. Some people told me they were completely destroyed, they felt sick, they were shook.”