Samantha Cohen was a senior aide to Queen Elizabeth II. Buckingham Palace basically asked Cohen to step in as private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018, to help them launch their own separate royal office. It was supposed to be a temporary job, with Cohen as a placeholder until the Sussexes hired their own hand-picked team. Cohen ended up staying with the Sussexes for 18 months and she exited their office just a couple of months before the Sussexes exited the UK as well. Well, Samantha – who is Australian – gave an interview to the Herald Sun in which she discussed her memories of QEII. Of course she was asked about the Sussexes and, obviously, the fakakta “bullying” claims. Cohen had every opportunity to shut it down and say that the whole thing was a harebrained scheme cooked up by the clownshow in Prince William’s office. She did not.
The former royal aide dubbed ‘Samantha the Panther’ who worked as Harry and Meghan’s private secretary has claimed that her replacement quit during the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s trip to Africa. Samantha Cohen served as Queen Elizabeth’s press secretary for 17 years and then as her assistant and private secretary.
She stepped away from working for the Royal household in 2019 after a stint as the private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – a job she took on at the request of the Queen. Ms Cohen resigned after being ‘treated harshly’ and likening the job to ‘working with teenagers’, according to historian Valentine Low in his book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown.
In an interview with Australian outlet the Herald Sun, she claimed that she stayed in her role three times as long as she had originally planned because officials struggled to find a replacement for her. When a new private secretary was found, they quit during Harry and Meghan’s tour of Africa in 2019, Ms Cohen claimed.
She said: ‘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 as well while in Africa.’
Harry and Meghan’s ten-day tour with their son Archie began in Cape Town, South Africa. They also visited Botswana, Angola and Malawai in what was their last official trip before they quit as working royals. In an ITV documentary filmed during the trip, Meghan claimed to broadcaster Tom Bradby that courtiers failed to ever ask if ‘I’m okay’ and said she struggled to cope with intense media scrutiny, saying she was ‘existing not living’.
Ms Cohen confirmed in the interview with the Herald Sun that she was one of 10 courtiers who were interviewed over claims the duchess ‘bullied’ Palace staff. It came after a bullying complaint was raised by Harry and Meghan’s communications secretary, Jason Knauf, in 2018. However, Ms Cohen refused to make any further comment about the complaint, which was strenuously denied by the Duchess of Sussex’s legal team.
So they hired a new private secretary in the early fall of 2019, brought the new person on the Africa tour and the person quit midway through the tour? The same tour where there was a fire in Archie’s government-provided nursery? The same tour when Meghan was visibly upset by the lack of support through a months-long racist hate campaign? The same tour where Harry decided to launch his lawsuits against several British media outlets? I would be curious to know the actual rationale behind that private secretary leaving mid-tour. I’ve always thought that the Sussexes were basically just trying to get through that African tour before they officially made up their minds about whether or not they would leave. That tour plus their Remembrance events in November 2019 were the last big things they did before they went to Canada.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Duchess of Sussex meet Coastguard trained by Royal Marines at Kalk Bay, Cape Town. Pictured: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 24 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Duchess of Sussex meet Coastguard trained by Royal Marines at Kalk Bay, Cape Town. Pictured: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 24 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen holding their baby son Archie, during the visit to Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Meghan Markle visits the mothers2mothers (m2m) charity in Cape Town, South Africa. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 SEPTEMBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Meghan Markle The Duchess of Sussex is seen during a visit to the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, part of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), of which she was announced as Patron in January 2019. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 1 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Meghan the Duchess of Sussex visits a gender based violence education club and meets with partner the nature of violence against women and girls and the work they are undertaking to tackle it. Pictured: Meghan Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 1 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a visit to a township to learn about Youth Employment Services (YES), which aims to tackle the critical issue of youth unemployment in South Africa by creating one million new work opportunities in the next three years. Pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 2 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a meeting with Graca Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg, South-Africa. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 2 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen during a visit to a township to learn about Youth Employment Services (YES), which aims to tackle the critical issue of youth unemployment in South Africa by creating one million new work opportunities in the next three years. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 2 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
So was she forced into some sort of NDA by KP? Or is she just another tool of KP letting the bullying claims stand? It would be interesting to know if the secretary quit because of something that happened during the trip or just couldn’t hack the job and travel in general.
This constant half facts that are exploited left and right by the media. These people are disgusting.
Name names or keep shtum.
I am not surprise that she quit midway through the Africa Tour. THE PALACE HAS A REPUTATION FOR HIRING INCOMPETENT PEOPLE ON THE CHEAP $30,000 A YEAR 🙄🙄🙄 JUST LOOK AT KATE AND WILLIAM CARIBBEAN TOUR AND YOU’LL GET ALL THE ANSWERS 😵😵😵
Just remember that Australia’s Herald Sun is owned by the Murdoch group. That matters.
Do we know if Samantha Cohen was actually interviewed by them? Or, if they are spewing out something they won’t be sued against? Samantha Cohen’s replacement, Fiona McIlwham was hired as Samantha Cohen’s replacement in August 2019. Rewriting of history seems to be happening with BM/Murdoch media.imo
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a29452321/prince-harry-meghan-markles-private-secretary-samantha-cohen-resigning/
Samantha Cohen always planned to leave after the SA tour. Fiona McIlwham was still with them after the tour. She was named in the numerous articles by the BM tabloids (and People) as someone losing their job when the Sussexes stepped down/were forced to step down. I hope these links both go through. The lies & rewriting of history by them over ther is extraordinary and pukey.
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a29452321/prince-harry-meghan-markles-private-secretary-samantha-cohen-resigning/
Max Foster said true things.
Five years later it holds.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/africa/meghan-harry-africa-tour-analysis-gbr-intl/index.html
Everytime I read about what the Sussexes did when they were royal it annoys me more and more that William is the one they kept. I get it, it’s not who is most suited for the job, it’s literally just birth order, but still.
Yes that was when there was a fire in or near Archie’s room. Suspicious that the aide “quit” then. I don’t believe she quit I believe she was fired. She should tread carefully with what she says.
Maybe i read it wrong hut i thought she aas referring h&m when she said they quit. As in:
“We took the new PS with us on the SA tour but Harry and Meghan basically quit while on that tour”
I read “as” as a typo— I figured it was supposed to be, “they left us while in Africa.” But I could be reading it wrong, too, so who knows.
I agree that the aide was given the sack. It’s clear that this Samantha woman was one of the snakes, despite the tabloids claiming how she was so loyal to them that she stayed far longer than she was meant to. If they were so terrible to work for then she would have “quit” way earlier without waiting for them to find a replacement.
She is being very careful with words, knowing full well that the usual professional media trolls will trumpet this as yet another example that “they can’t keep staff”. “Left”, my foot. Fired, more like. Or left before they were fired, because they couldn’t cope during what was effectively the probation period. I see her.
So, Meghan bullied only British people working in the Palace? Is that really what they are going with? A woman who has no credible complaints from employees working with her any other time just chose to bully a specific group of people. They honestly sound stupid. Also, apparently their palace NDA’s only exclude H&M.
Difficult to bully any other sort of person, ‘coloureds’ were only employed in menial positions. The Monarch is exempt from the race relations act.
I don’t know how a pregnant woman and later a new mom could act like a teenager. Which is probably why we don’t have any details.
Seriously, she’s human. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. Pregnancy and/or being a new mother doesn’t suddenly make you act perfectly all of the time.
As for this woman, I think not making any further comment was the professional thing to do. To have worked in such a close capacity for HM for so long speaks volumes. I’m sure she learned a thing or two about the value of discretion.
“Ms Cohen resigned after being ‘treated harshly’ and likening the job to ‘working with teenagers’, according to historian Valentine Low”
She didn’t say who was treating her harshly or acting like teenagers…could well have been the KP staff. Because she said she was one of the staff interviewed, doesn’t necessarily mean she had anything negative to say during those interviews. I think there is a whole lot of implying her thoughts about M&H are negative, when there is room for me to question who she was actually referring to.
Am I being naïve? I always hoped she had been on M’s side.
I don’t give her the benefit of the doubt. She knows what people are saying about Meghan. She chose to leave it at that. Of course, everyone is gonna assume it was Meghan who treated her harshly since they investigated the bullying claims using her name on the headlines.
Those quotes come from Valentine Low, so we don’t know if Cohen said anything at all.
This is true. Information via Low should be taken with a massive groan of salt. But we do know that she’s now saying a new private secretary quit during a trip with the Sussexes. Revealing that detail without giving any other context feels shady. Or is the interviewer twisting it?
Yep, when actually interviewed by the Herald Sun, she didn’t say that. That’s VLs language.
@Jais: that’s what I’m wondering. Was she that vague in her interview or did they cherry-pick her answers to print? Will we see a follow-up tweet that explains what she really said, in full?
So it’s possible the interviewer did some cherry-picking but at the same time why would cohen even go there? I’m assuming she’s smart enough to know how this will be interpreted, which leads me to think that she is happy to have the Sussexes seem so stressful that a private secretary felt the need to quit in the middle of a trip. Why else give this detail?
Obviously I don’t know this woman, but she always appeared to be loyal and discreet— which was why the Queen liked her. I’m surprised she even gave an interview at all. Anyway, I had a better opinion of her before she opened her mouth.
Exactly @Eurydice. “Words” from Valentine Low don’t measure on a truth barometer. At all. Dude who gave no f*cks (and used it against Meghan later) hearing Meghan was in a state of poor mental health. Isn’t he the same guy that tried attributing Meghan’s SmartWorks collection to Kate?
The framework I’m working off from is(from the British Media) the innocent are guilty. The guilty are innocent. You’d think, lol, as a “journalist”, again, lol, that Low would write something about the nefarious activities between Christian Jones and Dan Wootton. Whoops, that might involve William too, so he was crickets.
Like everything else, I believe the teenager comments was made about William & Kate. Later used as something to attach H&M’s names to along with anyone else leaving. It’s like the “Meghan made Kate cry” story. Insert the innocents name as the guilty party. To protect the Futures of DoNothing.
Just looking at the outputs of Sussexes and Waleses work, I wouldn’t assume Sussexes are the ones working like teenagers.
🎯
@GuestWho – Samatha Cohen DID NOT QUIT. She had planned to resign after working as QEII in various capacities with the last being as a Private Secretary since 2001. QEII asked her to stay on for another 6 months to help Meghan & Harry settle into their new married life / working royal / until H&M could hire their own Private Secretary. However the 6 months became 18 months . She had to leave it was never her intention to stay. So that Jonathan Low chap saying she was fired was a blatant lie.
Also Samantha’s replacement leaving during their African Tour could be due to a host of reason . Given that they were still within a probationary period ie employed just b/4 they embarked on the tour, it is highly probably that the replacement decided on seeing the demands of the role decided that it wasn’t for them & quit.
The bullying hit piece was released 2 or 3 days prior to the interview with Oprah to counter whatever it was H&M were going to reveal as well as paint Meghan in the most negative light possible.
William’s beef has always been with Meghan & not so much as with Harry.
Probably still loves his brother in a peculiar way, and blames Meghan for altering the status quo. Which is of course the same as what he did when he married Kate. Aside from the ?problems? of her being a mixed race American actress.
Thank goodness for the nanny!
I am very curious about who the staff felt that they worked for. It would not surprise me if there were loyalty issues, especially since we now know that a bit of Harry’s battle against the papers was of course a battle against his own brother. And that whole family wanted Meghan gone.
I wonder too, who she answered to & whose work she was doing.
I seriously doubt Meg treats anyone badly. More like she was inconsolable about Archie being in danger & people thought she was overreacting.
Good Lord these folks, 5 year old news….RMY. Can or will these people ever f-n move on? I know the Sussexes did…..
They need to be reminded that they have leftovers there in the UK, focus on them. And Cohen can really try to focus on the present monarch if she want to but I guess that’s too much to ask of these folks. Everyone is regurgitating and eating their own 5 year old vomit just to be relevant, geez, how disgusting!!!
H&M are a distraction from the current failed state of the BRF.
Hmm. It feels like there’s just so much more to the story that we don’t know and it very well could have others, like Cohen, looking quite bad. I can’t help but think of those doctored text messages that Jason Knauf gave the judge in the DM case about Meghan’s letter. He had deliberately edited them to make Meghan look terrible. And then, when the judge asked for the full unedited text exchange, Meghan did not come across as terrible but as making complete sense in her concerns. It made it clear just how deceitful Jason Knauf was being in trying to shape Meghan as some monster. Doctoring text messages to make someone else look bad sounds like actual bullying to me. Something about Cohen is giving me the same vibes. Giving a tiny piece of information but not the full context, just as Knauf did with those texts. And at the end of the day, had there been any evidence of Meghan bullying staff, the palace would have gleefully released it. There’s a very good chance the investigation found that it was actually the staff that was unprofessional, including Knauf and Cohen.
I believe the report was never realised because there was no evidence that Meghan bullied any one. If she did they would have released the report.
I totally agree with you @amybee. If they had something that made the Sussexes look bad it would be released in full.
I completely agree, but I also think that the report may have shown that there were bullies at KP…..just not the Sussexes, and that’s a big reason it got buried as fast and completely as it did.
Also, it may have come out who set fire to Archie’s bedroom and who broke Guy the beagle’s leg. And who ordered those acts of violence. Because we all know they were intentional. (Looking at you, WFH Baldy.)
^^ FWIW @Agnes, in Spare, Harry reveals that Meg’s beagle, Guy, got loose from his walker one day in Toronto, and became lost. When he was found, his front legs were broken. It is believed he may have been hit by a car. This happened shortly before Meg departed Toronto to live in London with Harry. That was a very difficult time for Meghan and both of her rescue dogs. She had to leave Bogart, the shepherd-lab mix behind with a neighbor due to his health concerns and very likely, his emotional well-being. Bogart had become nervous, excitable, and stressed during the media bombardment of Meg’s Toronto home.
I briefly worked for a family foundation, largely created to provide jobs for the funder’s kids. Competence was definitely seen as bullying and making people look bad. Got out of there so fast. People just don’t realize how toxic people abuse therapeutic language to turn themselves into the victims.
What’s more likely: a woman who spent 7 years on an ensemble show and never had any record of bullying anyway (a woman in her position would have been fired–bullying wastes time and costs money. Men can get away with that on set sometimes. Women ensemble players? hell no)–goes the the royal fricking family and suddenly starts throwing her weight around?
OR
competent, hard-working woman shows up to work the job she was supposed to do full of ideas and plans, and the people she was assigned to work with a) didn’t want to take orders from a black American ACTRESS and refused to help her and b) her go-getter vibe made the now-Wales look like the lazy stupid frauds they were.
That’s what happened–I would stake my home on it.
@Jais, I see what you’re saying. I get stuck on timelimes. My personal opininion is that Meghan?M&H became suspicious of Knauf with the Bad Dad fiasco before the wedding. Knauf was Bad Dad’s liaison. Knauf is also the person who told Meghan to not invite Ashleigh. Meghan was involved in an industry where bullf*ckery happened. We can all recognize patterns of behavior. Knauf’s pattern of behavior was in the best interests of the Cambridges. Seriously, KP/Knauf could have easily shot down so many articles. Simon Rex is a greater human than Knauf/others.
Melissa Toubatti was Knauf’s hire. She was fired in Sept. 2018. In a Nov. 2018 article, Knauf was cited as saying wondrous things about Toubatti after claims of Toubatti crying & quitting. Fast forward to Feb. 2019, more sh*t headlines hit the fan. Knauf & KP were the common denominator. The Sussexes were splitting up with KP/W&K/Knauf. Not officially announced until March 14, 2019?
The Sussexes weren’t letting Cohen go (they could have-they dropped Knauf). If it comes out I’m wrong, I’m good. Cohen was known to be a worker. H&M are workers-they’ve showed their work so many times. The ‘teenagers’ comment, if was actually said, was about one of two people who have very little under their belts and believe a work day is 45 minutes.
Hmmm…something’s missing here. Who’s telling the truth because at the time it was being reported that the new Private Secretary Fiona (can’t remember her last name) was not going to stay for the entire trip she went to learn the ropes and then returned to London. As far as I’m aware Fiona was still working for Harry and Meghan when they decided to leave, she was at the Sandringham summit. Anyway, I believe that Samantha Cohen was “given” to Harry and Meghan to run interference for Edward Young and to make life difficult for Harry and in particular Meghan so she would leave.
I dunno about running interference for Edward Young – Cohen was loyal to Sir Christopher Geidt, who was famously pushed out by Young, Charles and Andrew. She apparently quit when he went but was either persuaded to stay by QE2 or was moved over to help with the Sussex’s during her notice period (I can’t remember the timeline).
I think we all know the reason that bullying report was buried – there was nothing to prove the claims made by Knuaf and I have always suspected it exposed bullying by others.
That period seemed like a stressful time for everyone – we now know there was a lot of sh!t flying around and it seems that tour was when the Sussex’s decided that they’d had enough.
I don’t think she was running interference for Young, bc I agree with DU that her loyalty would have been towards Geidt and QEII.
but I do wonder if she felt that working for the Sussexes was “beneath her” and she didn’t want to take “orders” from a Black American woman and that came through in her attitude and mannerisms etc.
@Digital Unicorn: As you said Geidt was no longer there and she may have quit but she then returned. So much for loyalty to Geidt. She did whatever Edward Young told her to do. I believe there was a concerted effort to get rid of Meghan, unfortunately for them their plan worked too well as it led to their scapegoat leaving with her.
I believe it was Robert Lacey that implied that Geidt was brought back in Jan. 2019 to keep an eye on Meghan (like she was stalking the halls making nefarious plans).
IMO, Geidt was brought back in as a watcher. Not of what Meghan was doing whilst pregnant and crafting, flicking of wrists of diabolical plans..but a watcher of what KP was doing to Meghan. He was a protection officer. Harry & the Queen had their secrets. We don’t know what the deaf man heard. Harry knew things and I don’t doubt she like/loved Meghan. The corgis loved Meghan. Their opinion mattered more to QE2 than any human, even Harry.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Take away everything that the British tabloid Media and their tentacles have said and we’re still left with a beautiful, charitable and working couple just living their life. I need some good jam now. I’ll settle for listening to Bob Marley. Now I want to know if members of the Marley family received some jam too! That would be epic.
I find her keeping quiet quite normal. I find her not talking quite ethical. Practice in my trade is not to talk about our work at all, even with family for confidentially reasons. However, knowing what we now now, I understand why it was so difficult to find new employees if they had to deal with the j. knauf like and the now wales. Its like have lots of responsibilities but not power.
But she’s not actually keeping quiet. She’s giving an interview with an Australian outlet and talking about the Sussexes. I imagine it’s hard to avoid as everyone wants to ask about them but still. Actually why is she doing an interview? Now I’m confused.
I haven’t searched it out, did Samantha Cohen actually give an interview to Murdoch media? If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. From what I’ve read, SC has moved on from the BRF. Wonder if “recent” comments were actually made in Sept. 2022. and withheld. I’m a skeptic when it comes tabloid/Murdoch/BM media.
Hypothetically, if someone asked me an inane question about something that didn’t happen and is controversial, I’m crickets. My mind is saying one thing. My lips are saying nothing.
Ethical where things are okay in a business. When you have someone being abused and accused in the media of bullying, quiet is just allowing the status quo and abuse to continue.
Yeah she’s a B too. Remember that ish about Meghan not wearing a hat when ahe went on that train trip with the queen? How the queen was so surprised and on and on? Well Samantha Cohen went on that trip too and she was “assigned” by the queen to “show Meghan the ropes”. How come she didn’t tell Meghan about wearing a hat if it was so important? Also, remember when Jason Knife exposed those text messages or emails about Meghan’s letter? Meghan specifically said do not share anything with Sam Cohen. Meghan knew what was up with that b*tch from the jump.
Yeah, it was Samantha Cohen’s responsibility to tell Meghan that she needed to wear a hat. I think she deliberately didn’t tell Meghan so she could be attacked by the press for not wearing a hat. I think in the end Meghan became mistrustful of Samantha Cohen because she wasn’t protecting her.
Somehow I never knew that about the texts, or I’d forgotten, but yikes. She must have been awful for Meghan to specifically name her like that. For some reason I always thought Cohen was sort of neutral— professional and discreet. Clearly I read her all wrong.
Poor Meghan never had a CHANCE. They set her up for failure from the beginning.
I’m so glad they got out. I’d be *incandescent* and plotting revenge for the rest of my life in similar circumstances. I wish they’d just GO OFF on all the horrible shhhh they went through instead of being rational about it lmao. But maybe Harry will release the spare parts of Spare and TELL ALL.
I’d also forgotten that Meghan had written Jason and said to not share something with Samantha cohen. Things must’ve been messy. Bc at one point Meghan must’ve trusted Sam but then didn’t? And she definitely trusted Jason at one point. I cannot imagine. Sharks circling. Randomly jimmy buffet is in my head and I keep hearing you got fins to the left, fins to the right and you’re the only bait in town. Or the only bait in sight or something like that 😂
That was the BM’s version. Page 342 of Spare, Harry said ‘the Palace had specifically directed Meg not to wear a hat.’. Are we now saying Samantha Cohen is the palace? Or, is Harry saying that Edward Young issued a directive? That Harry just might have receipts for.
I’m going to disagree about Meghan trusting Jason. (as posted earlier) Meghan trusted Samantha Cohen after the Sussexes split from KP. Samantha Cohen knew the bullying allegations on Meghan’s part were bullticky. Knauf has been the common denominator of bs. Knauf was hired by William.
There was never an investigation against Meghan. It’s hard to investigate something that never happened. Now, the cover up for Christian Jones selling info to Dan Wootton and Huevo’s knowledge, should be absolutely investigated.
Very strange how the Sussexes were so unhappy then yet so happy now. I wonder what the problem ever could have been. 🤔
Harry and Meghan haven’t told us the half of what the Palace and the Royal Family did to them.
I live in hope that Harry will eventually release those other unpublished 400 pages.
If a picture could say a thousand words because Harry’s face says it all in these photos
I get the impression from a lot of these long time aides that their issue with Harry and Meghan is that actually expected to run their office and didn’t want to just do what they said. These people are different than the aristo nepo hires who just want the resume boost, these are the ones who really think they are the power behind the throne. I think that’s why they describe Harry and Meghan as being ” like teenagers”. I always took that dig to be more about them having novel ideas, and exuberance and wanting to try new things even if didn’t work instead of just letting them run things a certain way because that’s how it was ” done”. That’s why they like to point out how long so and so worked for Charles and the Queen, because it clearly couldn’t be them could it?!! Not that they were happy to operate in the a certain way because it gave them total control and that is what they liked. I think a lot of the things they shut down when they were working royals they are doing with Archewell and it’s been successful and they are salty.
The fact is Sam Cohen didn’t want to work for Harry and Meghan, hence her complaints.
So all these earth-shattering upheavals (insert proper amount of irony) happened in 2019. Check calendar. Check…check… check… 2024… What? Nothing new to report about? Dang (insert sound of scraping at the bottom of the barrel).
Or is Ms. Cohen preparing a book launch? As we know, any book launches better on a slick of mud in the UK.
Exactly what I said. Its 2024, five years later. Move on, the rest of the world have already moved on.
It’s almost like she got a call from Peggy to activate her smear campaign just as the Sussex’s are getting great press with new projects and products coming. Like we could not see this coming 🙄. The playbook is pathetically outdated and transparent. I mean seriously do they not have any pride at all? At least mix it up a bit and add a few quarterback sneaks in there every once in awhile, this just lacks imagination and reeks of lazy desperation.
Ding ding ding! I think we have a winner. This. Very much this.
She and Jason Knauf apparently best buddies and Knauf being back in the bosom of William at KP make this too much of a coincidence for me.
They are trying to crap all over the good press which H+M have been receiving and will clearly be receiving in the coming months.
LOL
Gee, what interesting timing, as people are wondering why William can’t go to an event months in the future because of Kate’s illness.
Samantha Cohen is a lot like Samantha Markle: a trouble maker, eager to have her 15+ minutes of fame. Even Jason Knauf isn’t as thirsty as SC and he’s definitely more discreet.
God only knows what they tried to do to that poor baby to finally get rid of Meghan. They are all going to reap what they sow.
Look those bullying claims never saw the light of day because they were bullsht (as we know), the Queen knew it as well, she didn’t trust Charlie, Billy or knaph so the Queen decided to pay for a private investigation with the qc reporting directly to her. I would have loved to hear the screams from Charlie knaph and Billy when they realised their obvious ploy had been shot down. There are also two other things about this, if there had ever been any proof, those fkrs at the Palace would have published after the Queen died! And, they hadn’t counted on Megan, send me copies of statements so I can send them to my solicitor!!
This woman needs to be very very careful, and so does Lowe. We all remember Tom bowels book where so many people he had quoted came forward calling him a liar, with receipts to prove it, that his publishers pulled all promotional work, just like LEVIN has refused to go back on morning television because Ben shepherd called her out on her lies. If she has been trying to cause mischief, God help her and if its Lowe, God help him those 400 extra pages are getting closer and closer to the publishers.
But look, we all knew this crap was going to happen this week, Billy and camzilla are going to be around, yes folks Billy’s Ahem, Coming out, from where he’s been, Harry and Megan had a fantastic weekend, and ARO received some excellent press. So the usual trolls were always goona troll
Well said Mary!
I would bet the bullying claims had to be that Harry wasn’t making them coffee anymore.
Praying for you Mary 🙏
Bullying is code for “she made us work and expected us to do our jobs well.”
Actually that was the main complaint. No one said she yelled at them or threw insults. They were always saying that she woke up too early and expected the job she gave them to be done in a timely manner. When she was in a different time zone, she also sent emails at 5 am. We literally have ex palace employees who gave interviews on documentaries that Charles attacked them physically. Another employee gave interview against Andrew, how he was making her to run up to the house to close the curtains when he was two steps from the windows. They called the only black woman a bully on that place.
Yup. Totally agree.
I remember there was one bizarre workplace issue that Omid referred to around 2019 when things got really tough for Meghan and Harry. Omid intimated that a former staff member had brought litigation against the Sussexes. At the time, there was a wild tabloid rumor, *not* started by Omid, about Meghan throwing a teapot at a staff person??? This sounded completely bonkers. Did we ever hear more about this cuckoo story? I think it was heavily hinted that Melissa Touabti (or Toubati) was the complainant?
Bringing this up bc I think it’s possible that there was one seemingly dramatic instance of personality conflicts, which got blown out of proportion by the internal palaces’ rumor mills. It set a shaky foundation on which all of this other crap could be laid down to create a false case against Meghan.
The story about Meghan allegedly throwing tea at someone in Australia was made up by that lady C rumourmonger and derangers carried it.
It sounds like Toubati was fired and perhaps there were threats of litigation, but it was settled and clearly confidentiality agreements were signed because otherwise Toubati would have gone to the press. She was an ally of Knauf and hired for a position she was never qualified for. And likely the one behind the clothing tags during the Oceania tour.
@PotatoPuff, Examples I gave about Charles and Andrew are the actual employees with their names and faces visible making this info public. Tea throwing was never reported even on tabloids. It was always a social media lie repeated by Meghan hate channels. To this day, no employee came forward with terrible Meghan stories. If they did, the tabloids would pay them big money and make them national heroes.
Ah, I had no idea the rumors were traced back to Lady C and trolls. Thanks for setting it straight!
5 year old “news”. Yawn. When will the British media start focusing on why William is refusing to step up and do his duty?
Exactly! This is all a distraction from what is really going on behind Palace walls.
It’s not surprising that Samantha Cohen is not going to shut down bullying claims, we already know from the Jason Knaup emails that immediately following the Australian tours Samantha (or someone on Samanthas behalf) had come to him and basically said that Megan was bullying Samantha and that Samantha was on the verge of quitting. She was always at the center of these claims. Apparently you everything started going crazy after the Australian tour – even Harry has said that everything changed after the Australia tour – though his interpretation was that the rest of the royal family was jealous because Megan did so well on the tour. After the Australia tour is also apparently when William started raging about these bullying claims and things really broke down. All I know is, it’s not surprising that Samantha is not shutting down the bullying claims if we already know that she was basically the person who complained about the treatment to begin with?
Yup. Samantha “the panther” is still smarting from having met her better in Meghan.
If the Daily Mail deployed a fraction of the resources they devote to the Sussexes to investigating what’s really up with the Wailses, the British people might actually learn something useful.
These diversions are pointless.
I think this story is rehashed to try to distract from pegs laziness.
The article starts off with an interview with Cohen and then segues into comments made by Valentine Low, but not very clearly delineated, making it sound like Cohen is saying them. It’s not a defence of Cohen, but the really bad comments aren’t from her despite the writer of this article trying to make it sound that way.
I’m confused now. I was under the impression that SC was loyal to Harry and Meghan and did a good job for them. I did wonder why she would not have guided Meghan in wearing a hat on her outing with the Queen because apparently the palace said Her Majesty would be wearing a hat in their guidance to KP. Not wearing a hat makes Meghan look like she ignored the Queen’s wishes, and I imagine Meghan might be the sort to ask if a hat is required. I also thought the new PS left for a better job offer. No wonder Meghan was so upset during the RSA tour! There was no loyalty anywhere except for Archie’s nanny, who was not white. At least we know she cared about the Sussexes and was loyal to them.
On the other hand, all the other offices were working against H&M, trying to ruin their reputation. Whatever their new PS would do, H&M’s office would be attacked and lied about on the papers. So, I understand why someone who sees how the other main offices treat H&M runs for the hills for their own sake. On Spare, Harry talked about how when they were writing stepping back announcement, the courtiers working for them were worried about what their own future would be inside the palace after H&M were gone.
Don’t forget the Herald Sun is a Murdoch publication.
The saying here is ‘is it true or did you read it in the Herald Sun?’
I wonder how long they’re going to milk this history, every time they need a distraction.
Angela Kelly’s cottage in the lake district is not by any means a “downgrade.” I remember when pictures of her duplex in a small cottage in Windsor Park were shown and I was shocked at how run down both it and the garden looked.
BTW, they can silence Kelly with an NDA but not Samantha “the panther?”. How unseemly, staff blabbing about the Royals! I imagine Chuckles is not afraid of what Samantha might say about him.
My God…William is shut down because of his father and wife being ill and the thought of Work? Meghan is on a tour with a new born and is meant to get on with it whilst suffering emotional trauma? What a shambles this Monarchy and country is showing to the world. And now the Sun calls Harry Idle whilst he is working non stop on many fronts……..Or maybe they could not spell IDOL……#American Idol Harry
Working with teenagers, she must have forgotten what it is like to be madly in love.