When the Times published earlier this week accounts from Palace staff who claimed Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex had bullied them, it was swiftly written off (in part by Meghan herself) as a “smear campaign” orchestrated by Buckingham Palace in hopes of discrediting her before Sunday’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey. But royal expert Omid Scobie, who co-authored Prince Harry and Meghan bio Finding Freedom with Carolyn Durand, tells SheKnows exclusively that the time to which these staff members refer was indeed a tense one, if not necessarily for the reasons they describe. During Meghan’s brief time as a senior royal, the tabloids were plagued day in and day out with details of her private life, and it seemed increasingly clear that someone at the Palace was responsible for communicating with the press. Per Scobie’s source, that sparked tension not just between the Sussexes and Palace staff, who might have been responsible, but between the royal couple and the Cambridges, Prince William and Kate Middleton.