Harry and Meghans team called themselves Sussex Survivors Club, new book claims

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's team reportedly called themselves the Sussex Survivors' Club after their relationship with the couple rapidly deteriorated.

The revelation has been made by The Times' royal correspondent Valentine Low in her new book, Courtiers: the Hidden Power Behind the Crown.

The book claims to lift the lid on what happened behind palace doors in the run-up to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's departure from the Royal Family.

It's said that before the couple left for the United States, The Queen had personally asked her private secretary Sam Cohen to work for Harry, 37, and Meghan, 41.

Sara Latham, former Freuds PR managing partner, was hired in 2019 to be in charge of communications and assistant press secretary Marnie Gaffney also worked with Cohen in the months before Meghan and Harry's departure.

The book claims tension soon increased between the royal couple and their team when Harry told members of the press, who had been invited to cover the royal tour of the South Pacific, that they weren't "invited".

He reportedly said: “Thanks for coming, even though you weren’t invited.”

The book goes onto claim: "This was spectacularly rude — and incorrect. The media had been invited to cover the tour.

"Later, Harry’s staff told him how badly his remarks had gone down. He replied: 'Well, you shouldn’t have made me do it.'

"Harry’s petulant behaviour revealed much about the couple’s deteriorating relationship with their own staff."

The book added: "So bad did things eventually become that Harry and Meghan’s team would later refer to themselves as the Sussex Survivors’ Club."

Staff also reportedly said: “We were played.”

Another revelation made in the book claims that Harry turned down a meeting with Prince William because he was “concerned” it would be leaked to the press.

The new Prince of Wales is said to have only realised Harry and Meghan’s unhappiness when he saw comments made in the ITV documentary ‘Harry & Meghan: An African Journey', which was broadcast in October, 2019.

It was after the documentary's release that he tried to arrange a meeting with his brother.

However, Harry is believed to have turned down the approach after considering it. A few months later the Sussexes moved abroad, citing a lack of support from the Royal Family.

Harry is said to have asked who would know about it, to which William said his private secretary in order to clear the time in his diary, it is alleged.

“At that point, Harry said don’t come. He was so concerned that William’s team would leak the visit to the press that he would rather they did not come than risk it getting into the papers,” the book claimed.

OK!has contacted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's representatives for comment.

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