Royal | News - Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
Meghan Markle’s former bodyguard has defended the Duchess of Sussex and revealed she has a “big heart” amid multiple claims of bullying from staff members.
The ex-bodyguard, Steve Davies, has come forward and insisted these allegations are far from the truth, as he used to work with Meghan when she first joined the Royal Family.
Speaking to Touch Magazine, he said: “She gets a bad rap for being a not very good person to work with, that she was this evil person in the Royal Family.”
However, Steve recalled her engaging with people from all walks of life, “working with charities to working with dog walkers and cleaners.”
The ex-bodyguard also said he learned one big lesson from Meghan – “give respect to get respect”.
The Duchess of Sussex was also denied the freedoms she had previously once enjoyed, and constant attention eventually took its toll on Meghan.
He said: “She was paranoid. We had people following us around everywhere we went.”
Steve recalled one instance when Meghan said all she wanted to do was to be able to shop in a grocery store. Steve gave Meghan the permission to go and recalled: “I pushed the cart around the grocery store, and she was putting stuff in it. She really enjoyed that.”
Steve also said people were often surprised by how friendly Meghan is and “what a big heart she has”. While Steve no longer works for Meghan, he admitted he would take on the job again and described the Duchess of Sussex as a good person to work for.
The comments from the ex-bodyguard come as The Hollywood Reporter, one of America’s prestigious entertainment news sources, recently published a scathing report labelling the Duchess of Sussex “Duchess Difficult” and claiming that her staff are allegedly “terrified” of her and her “belittling” behaviour towards them.
The outlet cited sources saying that Meghan “marches around like a dictator in high heels, fuming and barking orders”, with one source adding: “I’ve watched her reduce grown men to tears”.
Also included in the report were allegations regarding the Duchess’s “noisy tantrums” and “angry 5am emails” that earned her the nickname “Duchess Difficult”.
As well as the ex-bodyguard, Mandana Dayani, former Archwell COO has also spoken out about the “profound injustice” and described the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as “kind, decent, caring people”.
She told Us Weekly: “Part of the profound injustice of having to speak publicly on this in light of these endless and damaging narratives is that so much of the kindness, mentorship, and support that Prince Harry and Meghan share with others happens quietly behind closed doors.”