Alison Hammond defends Meghan Markle against bullying accusations: ‘She was going through mental health issues’

Alison Hammond has defended Meghan Markle against claims she ‘bullied’ Buckingham Palace staff, during a discussion about the second volume of Prince Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Netflix documentary dropping today.

Meghan was accused of bullying her staff before she moved to California with Harry as the pair quit as working royals, with two senior staff accusing the Duchess of Sussex of bullying them while another former employee said she humiliated them.

Another aide said she used ‘emotional cruelty and manipulation, which could also be called bullying’.

Meghan has refuted the claims, and later told Oprah Winfrey during the notorious interview that Buckingham Palace was using the media to ‘peddle a wholly false narrative’.

However, the accusations have been brought up again by critics of the Sussexes following the second part of their Netflix docuseries launching today, in which Meghan opens up about her mental health struggles.

Meghan reveals in the docuseries that she was prevented from getting medical help while suffering suicidal thoughts during her time in the Royal Family.

Recounting her mindset during that period, Meghan says: ‘It was like, “all of this will stop if I’m not here”.

‘And that was the scariest thing about it, is that it was such clear thinking.’

She adds later: ‘I wanted to go somewhere to get help but I wasn’t allowed to. ‘

‘They were concerned about how that would look for the institution.’

‘Meghan can’t control what is being put into the papers,’ Alison told Camilla Tominey on Thursday’s This Morning.

‘It’s not her fault that she’s been bigged up and been the number one person,’ she continued, speaking about how Meghan made headlines shortly after their wedding.

As the discussion turned towards claims of bullying, and the Duchess speaking about her mental health battles on the Netflix programme, Alison added: ‘Obviously, all of this that happened, she was going through mental health issues.

‘And I’m sure when you’re going through mental health issues you’re probably not going to be the nicest behind-the-scenes.

‘That could come across as bullying to some people.’

Speaking about his wife’s mental health battles in the docuseries, Harry says: ‘I was devastated, I knew that she was struggling, we were both struggling, but I never thought that it would get to that stage and the fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed.

‘I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as institutional-Harry as opposed to husband-Harry.

‘What took over my feeling was my royal role. I had been trained to worry more about “what are people going to think if we don’t go to this event, we’re going to be late”.

‘Looking back on it now I hate myself for it. What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give.’

Harry & Meghan is available to watch on Netflix.

This Morning airs weekdays on ITV from 10am.

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