Revealed: The scathing nickname Spotify staff gave Meghan Markle was used as a ‘warning signal’ when she was ‘on the warpath’… while Prince Harry was named after ‘1990s British TV comedy idiot’

Since stepping back from royal duties in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are no longer addressed as Your Royal Highness (HRH).

Instead, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex seem to have gathered a slew of rather unflattering nicknames, from ‘Ginge and Whinge’ to the ‘Kardashians of Windsor’.

Most recently, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was overheard sarcastically dubbing them ‘wonderboy and wondergirl’ at a reception in Buckingham Palace.

And they have both individually picked up a series of monikers online over the years, Meghan’s ranging from ‘Me-gain’ and ‘Duchess Difficult’ to ‘MeMeMeghan’, while Harry has got ‘Rebel Prince’ and ‘Dukes of Hazzard’.

But it now appears both disillusioned royals were secretly given yet another nickname by the staff they worked with while producing their Spotify podcast.

UK royal correspondent Neil Sean claimed to Fox News the Duchess of Sussex, 43, was given the name ‘Eva’ while she was working on her podcast Archetypes.

He explained: ‘This wasn’t an engaging pet nickname. The nickname came from the 1955 camp classic ‘Queen Bee’ starring the ultimate diva herself – Joan Crawford…

‘This is because, like the Joan character [Eva Phillips], she stung her victims to pieces. This is exactly how staff felt about working alongside [Meghan].’

The film is about a ‘manipulative’ socialite who ‘sets out to destroy the lives of all those around her’, according to Turner Classic Movies.

Mr Sean also explained that behind-the-scenes staff found it ‘really difficult’ to deal with Meghan because of her mood swings and that she was ‘quite tough and bossy’.

He claimed sources told him that Meghan only wanted ‘to speak to the person at the top’ when she worked alongside them. 

The $20million multi-year Spotify deal came crashing down in 2023 after the Duke and Duchess made just 12 episodes of the Archetypes podcast in three years.

Meanwhile Prince Harry, 40, also received a nickname from staff, becoming covertly dubbed ‘Tim Nice But Dim’, referring to a character created in the 1990s by British comedy legend Harry Enfield. 

Tim, known for his amiable but clueless personality, was supposed to represent ‘low attainers from an affluent background’ and had the catchphrase ‘bloody nice bloke!’.

Like other Enfield creations such as Kevin the Teenager, Wayne and Waynetta Slob and Loadsamoney, Tim was a household name in the UK for years. 

One of the most viewed clips of the character on YouTube shows him going to a school reunion but not recognising any of the other people, before it is finally revealed he has been at the wrong school all along.

Its creator Harry Enfield has been close to royalty before, as he went on to play Harry’s dad Charles in the Channel 4 parody sitcom about the royals – The Windsors. 

Harry and Meghan remained unaware of the nicknames while they worked at the streaming giant, claimed Mr Sean.

Another nickname for the royal couple came as yet more light was shed on to the failed deal between Spotify and the Sussexes by a blockbuster Vanity Fair cover story published in January.

The couple reportedly failed to yield consistent, successful content for the platform, with one former employee, claiming they were unlike other celebrity podcasters, who will ‘turn on the mic and talk’.

Instead, the source said, the couple ‘wanted a big theme that would explain the world, but they had no ideas’.

Some of Harry’s bizarre concepts ranged from reviewing hot chocolate every week to interviewing the likes of Putin and Donald Trump about being ‘sociopaths’.

Meanwhile, Meghan found it hard to commit to a single idea before ‘backtracking’ and ‘watering them down’, meaning each episode had to be ‘completely reimagined late in production’, the article states.

Even when Meghan finally premiered her podcast Archetypes – aimed at empowering women by breaking down gender stereotypes – it failed to take off amid rumours that Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Megan Thee Stallion all declined to appear on it.  

Meanwhile, the Vanity Fair article also exposed more allegations surrounding how staff at Spotify were treated. 

According to two unnamed sources, after working on Archetypes, one colleague took a leave of absence following a three-episode stint. This is before they left Spotify’s studio Gimlet altogether.

It’s claimed others described ‘taking extended breaks from work to escape scrutiny, exiting their job or undergoing long-term therapy after working with Meghan’.

The source told the writer she felt that if Meghan chose to ‘acknowledge her own shortcomings or personal contributions to situations’ instead of adopting a perpetual victim role, her perception might be ‘better’.

Meanwhile, an individual who worked in media projects read claims of Meghan ‘bullying’ palace aids and said they could not imagine such behaviour really happened.

However, after working with the Duchess, the person allegedly changed their mind, thinking: ‘Oh, any given Tuesday this happened.’

One of Meghan’s former Spotify employees called her a ‘Mean Girls’ teenager’ while describing the ‘awful’ and ‘painful’ experience they had working with her. 

The staffer said Markle began warm, encouraging and complimentary, but she’d ‘become cold and withholding toward the person she perceived to be responsible’ if she didn’t get her own way. 

Megan and Harry refused to comment on the Vanity Fair story. 

The couple was famously disparaged by podcaster Bill Simmons who worked with the Sussexes at Spotify.

In June 2023, he famously referred to the couple as ‘f****** grifters’, adding: ‘I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.… F*** them. The grifters.’

Meghan has also long been haunted by reports that she treated staff poorly while she was a working member of the Royal Family. 

Buckingham Palace launched its own investigation in 2021 after the bullying allegations were made public but refused to reveal the findings.

The Mail revealed that former staff had dubbed themselves the ‘Sussex Survivors Club’ and some were suffering from the equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nevertheless, the alleged nicknames ‘Eva’ and ‘Tim Nice But Dim’ are not the only times Meghan and Harry have been given nicknames.

In contrast to their otherwise extremely formal habits, the Royal Family has a long history about disregarding titles and calling each other nicknames.

Prince Charles initially christened Meghan ‘Tungsten’ because she is ‘tough’ and ‘unbending’ when she began working as a royal.

While it might not appear like the most flattering of comparisons to be named after a type of strong metal, Charles intended it to be a compliment, and it stuck. 

However it might be better than the nickname she allegedly received from Prince Philip – ‘DOW’.

The Queen’s cheeky husband dubbed her the initials due to how much she reminded him of the American divorcee who broke up the Royal Family in the 1930s, Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, according to royal biographer Ingrid Seward.

Although it seems the Royal Family have now mastered the art of calling Meghan, along with Harry, nothing at all. 

In his recent book, A Voyage Around the Queen, the Daily Mail columnist Craig Brown claimed their names now don’t get brought up too often in royal circles. 

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth told Brown that members of the family display their stiff upper lip by having a pretty icy way of referring to the couple.

He said: ‘These days, the names of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, do not crop up very often in court circles. 

‘When they do, courtiers flinch almost imperceptibly and change the subject – or, if that’s not possible, refer to them obliquely as ‘persons who live overseas’.

‘Mention the Sussexes to other members of the Royal Family… and they simply smile briefly and say, “We wish them all the best” – and nothing else.’

But it is not clear what nicknames, if any, staff at Lemonada Media have given the Sussexes.

After the axing of the Spotify deal, the company stepped in to sign another podcast with Meghan in February last year.

It remains to be seen if any further reports surrounding her behaviour will emerge from there. No release date for the podcasts have yet been issued, but they are expected to come at some point this year.

At the moment, things seem to still be positive, with the company’s co-founder, Jessica Cordova Kramer, gushing ‘Meghan’s talent as host, creator and conversationalist is unparalleled’ when the deal was signed.

Co-founder Stephanie Wittels Wachs corroborated Kramer’s enthusiasm, expressing that they felt an immediate kinship with Meghan and her Archewell Productions team. 

But the news of Harry’s alleged secret nickname from the Spotify staff will likely further complicate an issue which has always been tricky for the Prince.

After he allowed his head to be shaved by his Eton schoolmates in his youth, he was dubbed ‘Spike’ after his hair grew back in messily – similar to a spiny anteater.

Writing in Spare, he said: ‘I became Spike, when I wasn’t Haz, or Baz, or Prince Jackaroo, or Harold, or Darling Boy, or Scrawny, a nickname given me by some Palace staff. 

‘Identity had always been problematic, but with a half dozen formal names and a full dozen nicknames it was turning into a hall of mirrors. Most days I didn’t care what people called me. 

‘Most days I thought: Don’t care who I am, so long as it’s someone new, someone other than Prince Harry.’

Although ‘Tim Nice But Dim’ probably wasn’t what he had in mind.