Prince Harry given a very unflattering Blackadder nickname by royal staff

The Duke of Sussex was likened to a hapless character from Blackadder by some of his former staff members, according to an explosive new book by royal author Tom Quinn

Prince Harry was given a savage nickname by royal staffers which likened him to a hapless character from the Blackadder series, an explosive new book has revealed.

Speaking anonymously to Yes, Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants by Tom Quinn, which will be released later this month, one insider opened up about what it was like to work for the Duke.

“I remember once in his private apartments I’d muddled something – some of his papers on his desk or something,” they revealed, in an extract obtained by the Daily Mail. “He was immediately angry and it was out of proportion to the problem, or at least I thought it was.”

The source further added that other staff had “experienced similar incidents” – and would make jokes about Harry’s temperament.

“We thought it was a bit rich complaining about me being muddled given that Harry was probably the most muddled of all the royals of his generation,” the insider continued.

“The joke used to be that Harry was very much like the Prince Regent in the Blackadder television series. People used to say that without a servant, Harry would take two weeks to put his own trousers on.”

The Prince Regent character was played in the series by Hugh Laurie – and in one episode does take a whole week to put on his own pair of trousers.

Elsewhere in the new book, it is asserted that Harry’s wife Meghan felt that he was being ‘belittled’ by the fact he lived in Nottingham Cottage – the couple’s first home together.

“‘Meghan felt it was so small that it must be a reflection on how the Royal Family were belittling her husband. She just didn’t understand that real royals don’t care much about houses and material possessions because, having always had them, they take them for granted, said one member of staff who helped out regularly at Nottingham Cottage.”

Quinn continued: “A rather beautiful house in the grounds of a famous palace hardly seemed to Harry the equivalent to being forced to live in a shed at the end of the garden. But for Meghan things were more complex. She saw Kate and William living just a few yards away in Kensington Palace itself with teams of live-in servants.

“She also undoubtedly felt constrained by protocol. ‘Meghan quite rightly hated the fact that when she was in Nottingham Cottage, she had to agree well in advance what time she might leave for an appointment or an event and she had to make sure she didn’t leave at the same time as, or clash in any way with, a more senior royal leaving the palace,’ a former Kensington Palace staffer said.”

Harry and Meghan moved out of Nottingham Cottage in 2019, setting up home in Frogmore Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle – a wedding gift from the late Queen – ahead of the birth of their first child, Archie.

But Meghan was again said to be unhappy with their living arrangements and made a request that the monarch deemed entirely “inappropriate”.

According to The Times , Harry and Meghan wanted to live within the Castle itself and reportedly asked if “living quarters could be made available after their marriage”.

At the time, only the Queen and Prince Philip had private apartments within the actual castle, with everyone else living elsewhere on the estate.

The monarch deemed their request ‘inappropriate’ and “politely but firmly suggested” that they live in Frogmore Cottage instead.