Samantha Cohen is best known to the Sussex Squad as Prince Harry and Meghan’s former private secretary, when they lived in the UK. Cohen was “given” to the Sussexes by QEII to help them out when they were newly married. Before that, Cohen had been a trusted aide to QEII, working as the queen’s press secretary and assistant private secretary. Cohen left royal service years ago, and now she works in the private sector (she works for mining company Rio Tinto). And she occasionally gives interviews about QEII… but she didn’t comment on the Sussexes at all.
Samantha Cohen, who served Queen Elizabeth II for 17 years as her press secretary, and then as her assistant private secretary, spoke fondly of her relationship with the monarch in an interview with an Australian newspaper. She told the Herald Sun: “The Queen had no ego, she was so comfortable in herself, yet she loved it when things went wrong. If a cake was not cutting, or a plaque didn’t unveil, because everything was so perfectly organised, it spiced her life up when things went wrong.”
Ms Cohen, who stopped working for the Royal household in 2019, said the “best times” were her two royal tours accompanying her majesty to Australia. Ms Cohen saw the Queen almost daily and, for nearly a decade, had her own bedroom at Windsor Castle, she said. Recalling how she was invited to bring her family to Balmoral and also to Sandringham at Christmas, she said: “The Queen and I used to talk a lot. I miss her, she was a special woman.”
In 2018, she worked as private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the personal request of the Queen. However, she resigned in October 2019 after being “treated harshly” and likening the job to “working with teenagers”, it was claimed in Valentine Low’s book, Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown. Ms Cohen would not comment on the claims, according to the Herald Sun. However, the newspaper reported that she confirmed that she was one of ten aides reportedly interviewed by the palace after a bullying complaint was made by the then head of communications Jason Knauf.
“She resigned in October 2019 after being ‘treated harshly’”– she was only supposed to stay for a year or so because that was what she and QEII had agreed on, because Cohen was ready to move on and work in the private sector. These people never miss an opportunity to smear the Sussexes. I’m disappointed that Cohen didn’t use this chance to just say it, that she was always going to leave after a year or so. As for what she says about QEII… in retrospect, QEII was nutty as a fruitcake in her final years and being manipulated and “managed” by courtiers and her heir. That being said, QEII genuinely was a more eccentric figure than most people want to acknowledge. I still get a kick out of the old photos of QEII interacting with cakes.
(Note by Kaiser: I wrote this before I saw further excerpts from Cohen’s interview, in which she did talk a bit more about the Sussexes. I will cover that separately.)
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.