It’s been a busy fall for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—from the opening of the Godmothers book shop near their home in Montecito to Harry’s whirlwind tour of New York City for UN General Assembly High-Level Week and Climate Week. But that hasn’t stopped the resurfacing of headlines repeating unfounded claims about Meghan’s work ethic in publications ranging from the Hollywood Reporter (which anonymously claims Meghan is referred to by US-based staffers as ‘Duchess Difficult’) to US Weekly (where former and current staffers go on the record to rebut these allegations and speak positively about their experience working for the Duchess of Sussex).
Meghan Markle’s Surprising Email Signature Revealed—and It’s One You’ll Want to Copy and Paste
Lessons in online etiquette
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Published Sep 30, 2024
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One of the more specific allegations against Meghan, according to the Hollywood Reporter piece? Her preference for sending “angry 5 a.m. emails.” The US Weekly clap-back from a current staffer? First, a note that they have never heard her yell, plus a statement that the Duchess of Sussex “gives clear direction and is solution-oriented.”
But there’s also this tidbit about a disclaimer at the footer of every email sent by Meghan: “My working day may not be your working day. Please do not feel obliged to reply to this email outside of your normal working hours.”
As far as email signatures go, that’s pretty eloquent—at the very least, it takes the pressure off of anyone reading to reply immediately to an after-hours work note. Is it something we want to copy for our own electronic correspondence? Kind of. Come on, the pandemic permanently changed the definition of 9 to 5 as we knew it—who doesn’t hop online after-hours to get a grip on the range of work tasks that fell through the cracks during the work day? But, for the person on the receiving end, a reminder that you don’t have to reply immediately is a nice one.
Of course, in the case of the Duchess of Sussex, we can’t speak for the content of the notes sent after-hours, but the US Weekly rebuttal is a powerful one, given it features on the record voices—past and present—all coming to the defense of their boss with specifics. It also offers a lesson in email etiquette, which Meghan does appear to follow.
