From the way the British and American media has been ranting, you’d think that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spent the past six years operating a noisy manure factory in the heart of Montecito. There are claims that all of Prince Harry and Meghan’s Montecito neighbors hated them, especially Gwyneth Paltrow. There are claims that everyone in Hollywood hated them too, bizarrely and without reason. But this one is a new low. Page Six claims that Meghan (and not Harry) was deeply unpopular among the local housekeeper/maid community.
Meghan Markle had trouble staffing her Montecito mansion with housekeepers before the family’s move back to the UK.
“She had trouble hiring maids because a lot of the housekeepers in Montecito didn’t want to work for them,” a source exclusively claimed to Page Six.
“Meghan would interview people herself and could come across as really snobbish and rude,” the insider alleged. “Some of them were so offended by the way she spoke to them that word started getting around.”
The source said the Duchess of Sussex’s alleged reputation among local housekeepers eventually became something of a running joke around the ritzy California enclave.
“It got to the point where people would joke that all the maids in Montecito hated them,” the insider added. Reps for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
In June 2025, four staffers left Markle and Prince Harry’s team, Page Six confirmed at the time.
Kyle Boulia, the couple’s Los Angeles-based deputy press secretary, and Charlie Gipson, their UK press officer, quietly exited their positions after the couple took on new advisers. A source also confirmed that two members of their private team have also departed their roles in recent weeks.As previously reported, several neighbors are ready for a little more peace and quiet amid news that the Sussexes are moving back to the UK.
“When we first heard Harry and Meghan were moving to Montecito, there were definitely some concerns,” a local resident exclusively told Page Six. “There had already been so much negative press and attention surrounding them and the royal family, and I think people worried about what kind of spotlight that could bring to such a quiet community.”
Our insider noted that now that Prince Harry and Markle are moving back to the UK, they “couldn’t be more thrilled.”
They buried the lede – “A source also confirmed that two members of their private team have also departed their roles in recent weeks.” That’s a bigger story than this half-assed “Meghan bullied her maids” story. Regarding the maid stuff – the larger point is that they want white folks to be outraged that a Black woman has the audacity to have housekeepers for her huge Montecito estate. Meghan and Harry have groundskeepers and gardeners too, I’m sure. Did Meghan bully them as well? Now, going back to the buried lede – who left and why? Are they downsizing their “office staff” in California? Are they hiring new people in the UK? It would actually make a lot of sense if they’ve recently lost some of their communications team, because I think this Reverse Sussexit announcement has gone poorly.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram and As Ever’s Instagram.
If they have been planning their move for some time, it makes sense that CA-based staff would be finding new jobs.
But they would never frame it that way. Everything has to be negative conflict. My company just had a round of layoffs but life goes on. People aren’t going to move to the UK. I detest how everything is placed on Meghan. She needs an iron dome around her because it will not ease up.
She can’t win no matter what she does. My hope is that she just does whatever she wants to do and stops worrying about what anyone thinks. Let her be free to do anything she wants.
UGH, this sh*t is going to be NONSTOP.
None of this comports with how Meghan was described over the years by countless people — and not just celebs — as kind and thoughtful.
This is just racist crap about Meghan having the audacity to hire household staff.
Harry needs to cancel this move
Nothing will change and she will bear the brunt of it. The thing is she isn’t allowed to have any emotions other than smiling doormat. They are under a constant spotlight and everything is amplified. As for there being a good reason for this move. I don’t think there is necessarily one other than Invictus needing to be a success.
Also in a very white, extremely wealthy enclave like Montecito filled with very privileged people, I’m supposed to believe that the mostly Latino housekeeping staff had a problem with Meghan and her small household. Sure, whatever, because everyone else they work for is reasonable and undemanding. Right.
Did Charles give “conditions” including Meghan having to be put through this? Why does not Charles tell them to back off? Is Harry going to talk about this
As yet we’ve only had tittle tattle from the MSM that they’re actually moving here, the Sussexes have said nothing, as Kaiser said the PR surrounding this move has been terrible. Far from me to tell H&M how to live their lives but, I do think the time has come for them to make a statement. At the moment the RR and MSM are having a field day with their rumours, opinions and innuendo. When “who will look after the chickens” is front page news it’s time for H&M to put the nonsense to bed. Yes, they’re private citizens but they really need to harness this madness before something awful happens. The press, RR, and BRF will (once again) deny responsibility but, will go on to gain millions from the clicks and column inches from a tragic event. They did it to Diana, and almost succeeded to do the same in NYC. To paraphrase Harry: Those parasites don’t report the news, they create it! Harry needs to sit down with a main news channel and tell us “what’s what” and publicly remind the RR and MSM that his family (especially the children) are private citizens and should be left well alone.
because people can’t handle terrible headlines??? Put your big girl panties on dear!! It’s gonna get worse. This is nothing.
Yeah, those maids have had only nice employers who welcomed them as family, but Meghan is mean. Puh lease.
Once again I’ll repeat myself: you know they’re out of ideas when the bullying accusations come out again.
The press are literally throwing every tired trope and rant they’ve had against one biracial woman for the last decade at the wall like pasta, hoping something sticks.
They just keep playing their lame ass mixtape of racist grievance over and over like a jilted ex boyfriend.
BM needs a new hobby. I recommend bonsai or knitting.
This is projection from the real story of kate and Carole treating staff very poorly that the ones who came over from Sandringham to Anmer decided after a few months to go back.
Not sure what the private team story is but this move to the UK is very much a valid reason for an American to not want to follow them there.
Can some press association put a stop to this can this latest “inquisition” end?
I bet their source is that weird UK “neighbor” guy.
@Graphinya. I bet there is no source. Or it is Tina Brown.
I think so too.
The maid thing is the dumbest thing ever. Are they serious? There’s no way the are interviewing maids when they would just hire a freaking service (if they even have someone cleaning at all) and that’s that.
And yes, the most important thing which I talked about in another article is how many people are leaving them? I mentioned this may be why Archwell changed up the way it did and why some people left. If Harry told people a year out they were doing this, I bet that’s why a lot of people left.
it does make sense if they are moving they would have reduced people working for them, or change things up. but the idea that she is yet again some bully who uniquely mistreats people is insane. the NDAs of her neoghbors hide so many sins. but genuinely – if her old staff are leaking lies or even small bits of stories, meghan and harry need to fight back. correct the record or sue. I certainly hope meghan and harry have staff having NDAs, not because I think she is a bully at all, but for their own privacy and security.
When you have economic freedom, caring about other people’s opinion is less of a factor. Megxit was always about the money and how abhorrent it would be to rely on a hostile family member for housing and basic income.
Didn’t Andrew yell at staff members because they touched his doll collection or something? And isn’t Charles known for being unpleasant to deal with?
Or is that all allowed for white men and white men only?
Andrew reduced a maid to tears because the teddies were arranged in the wrong order. He had one guy fired because he didn’t like a mole on his face. He slapped another one. And kicked his dog.
Charles tore a sink from the wall and threw it after his valet. Another one was strangled.
All members of the RF are linked to similar stories of mistreating staff, verbal and corporeal.
But sure, no maid is willing to work for the Sussexes. We had the story that one maid was disgusted that she had to clean up a leftover sandwich from Harry (the horror!). The “she was snobbish and rude when interviewing staff”? Just last week it was a bright eyed young woman in England who got this treatment from Meghan, straight out of a scene of The Devil Wears Prada.
They have a best of of their old stories. The move to England is discussed from all angles, including the dogs and chickens. The reactions of the Wails was discussed, here they have to tread a little more carefully. Christmas at Sandringham was mentioned….. seems the media have nothing left. Now we are back to “Meghan is a bully, there will be no one left to feed the chickens, and their staff in LA quit”!.
Seems with the temporary move to England they had some restructuring. They did it before with Archewell Foundation now Archewell Philantrophy, which made some staff redundant. Which is absolutely normal.
Oh, and of course the neighbors. Who hardly ever see them. Who know nothing. If they spoke to the press at all. Very likely it is the same “neighbor” again, who is in fact no neighbor but a former Daily Fail reporter living in Montecito, on the other end of the town. As I said, a best of.
Yeah I’m not believing this story. It seems like a rehash of old stories.
The racist attacks never cease. I wonder if Meghan can sue in California (not Britain, where politics will rule over the law) for something like interference with business relationships. It’s a torture we have where a party can be liable if their lies interfere with another person’s business — and the British tabloids are clearly trying to harm Meghan’s ability to hire staff and more importantly, to hurt her professional reputation.
“tort” not torture!
Indeed, @Mrs.Krabapple! It’s called tortious interference. It is a legal category under American statutes that designates behaviour designed to impede the free operation of a legitimate business, or a personal commercial endeavour. Or an impersonal one, come to that. To stop a corporate entity from engaging in legitimate business practices. For instance: CBS was sued by the cigarette manufacturers when it broadcast a whistleblower’s interview in which he revealed — wait for it — that cigarettes are addictive, that they cause cancer, and that their manufacturers knew this. The manufacturers had always denied knowing that cigarettes were bad for people, or that they were addictive. Effectively, he called them all liars. This — they claimed — interfered with their legitimate business practice. Because cigarettes weren’t illegal. The grey zone consisted of a decade in which the surgeon general had been lobbying for warning labels on cigarette packets, for restricted advertising (print, not tv, for example), and had been publicising studies that proved the link with cancer. But CBS was in a fix because effectively their story got out waaaaay ahead of those limited measures.
So their evidence that Meghan bullied maids is that senior staff have left?
Well if they are moving to the uk of course the staff is looking for new employment. And of course it’s Meghan fault, she black , things are always our fault. Not the white husband , Just the black wife.
From a pure comms point of view, I’m struggling to understand the strategy here. They obviously do not owe anyone an explanation, but by not providing one, even very brief, they’re leaving the door open to a dizzying volume of speculation, most of which is definitely not well-intentioned. They don’t really look in control of the narrative right now (already a tall order considering the amount of vitriol they’re getting just for breathing.) Maybe a more formal announcement will come later, with more structure, that will silence the deafening pile-on this development has triggered, but right now whoever is doing their comms is letting others write the story. Which, honestly, is not great.
They just make up stuff to malign Meghan. The words “exclusive” and “claim” are doing some heavy lifting. The sentences land like rocks thrown into the air, hoping the aim is good enough that they will hit something.
BTW, virtually nothing has been written about the Sussexes domestic staff or gardeners, which they must surely have had. This is another version of Meghan bullying KP staff.
Gossip amongst the maid community that no one wants to work for her.
Is P6 joking? This isn’t Bridgerton.