Meghan Markle’s ‘messiah complex,’ frequent hugs sparked clash within palace before royal exit: ex-staffers

Meghan Markle was accused of having a “messiah complex” by former palace aides before her shocking royal exit with husband Prince Harry, according to a prominent royal author.

Author Tom Quinn, who penned “Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants,” spoke to hundreds of former and current palace staffers who divulged on what went on behind the scenes before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s departure from royal life in 2020.

“Several of the aides that I spoke to, as well as the more junior staff, said that Meghan had what they called a ‘messiah complex,’” Quinn told Fox News. 

The messiah complex — also known as the savior complex — is when a person believes it’s their special duty to save or help others, even when it’s not needed.

“I think what they meant was that, as a working royal, she could save all the people whose lives were difficult. She could help with all sorts of problems, including poverty,” Quinn said.

“She had this sense that came from a very good motivation that she could change the world for the better. But the aides saw her ideas of doing good as completely out of proportion to what she actually could do,” Quinn added.

The royal author said palace staffers felt that the “Suits” alum, 43, “had these grand ideas, but there was no way a single person could do what she wanted to do.”

“And I think there was also a suspicion that Meghan was trying to be more like William and Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, that she was trying to do the same thing. And I think there was irritation that her sense of importance would reflect badly on the royal family,” he added.

One of Markle’s personal former staffers had claimed that she was “focused on how she could become the best-known and most-loved member of the royal family.”

“She once said, ‘What Diana started I want to finish,’ and we took that to mean she wanted to become a sort of globetrotting champion of the poor and the marginalized,” the former aide claimed.

Markle’s alleged ambitions soon raised concerns within the House of Windsor.

“If you’re married to the spare as Meghan is, you have to… accept that you’re taking a backseat position,” Quinn said. “Meghan didn’t do that. That led to the idea that she had a ‘messiah complex.’ She might have exaggerated her ability to do good, but her desire to do it was very sincere.”

Elsewhere, Quinn claimed that one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s aides said that Buckingham Palace had become “really worried” that Markle was starting to carve out her own path within the Firm.

The former staffer said that Markle, who wed Harry in 2018, “wanted to do her own thing,” but “it was never going to be acceptable that Meghan should outshine Princess Anne, Prince Charles [as he was then known] and [the queen].”

“Quite rightly, [the queen] always had to be the center and focus of everything the royal family did,” the aide claimed, according to Quinn’s book. 

“I don’t think Meghan understood why that had to make her do things she didn’t want to do. She didn’t understand that when you join the royal family, you don’t do as you please, you do as you’re told. In a sense, you become a servant of the family.”

Toward the end of her time as a working royal, Markle “felt constrained” and began to feel that she and Harry needed to “break out,” the ex-staffer adds.

The former actress allegedly wanted the pair to “do their own thing without consulting the big royal machine.”

After royal aides asked Harry to intervene, the duke’s “tendency to defend anything and everything Meghan says or does” became apparent, they add.

The Post has reached out to reps for the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace for comment.

Elsewhere, Quinn noted that Markle’s warm and friendly approach and hugging tendencies began to cause discomfort behind closed doors.

Markle reportedly leaned in for a friendly embrace each time she saw Prince William — a stark contrast in tactility that the royals are used to at home.

“Meghan hugged [William] virtually every time they bumped into each other,” the report read, citing palace staffers.

The difference in cultures “deepened the rift between the brothers,” the outlet adds, as staffers fueled the rumor mill by false claims that she was “flirting” with the Prince of Wales.

While Quinn explicitly stated that Markle most definitely did not flirt with the future king, her affection did create a “tense atmosphere.”

As a result, the mom of two was “understandably hurt” by the “pompous” response to her friendliness.