When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their high-profile exit from the Royal Family, the historic creed of ‘never complain, never explain’ became quickly defunct.
While the Firm stood firmly in their stance of privacy, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex routinely detailed family matters and alleged grievances in the public arena, most notably in their 2021 bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
But when Harry visited The Hague to host the Invictus Games nearly a year later in April 2022, it was assumed that the focus would remain solely on the event’s incredible sporting stars and their inspirational stories.
Yet the Prince seemed unable to make a television appearance without causing a stir – issuing striking claims about his ‘really special relationship’ with the late Queen that left the Royal Family reeling and even resulted in a statement by the Prime Minister.
The Duke, who made a sit-down appearance with NBC US breakfast show Today, had arrived in The Netherlands following a short visit to the UK where he and Meghan had privately met with his grandmother for tea.
It marked the first time the couple had stepped foot on British soil together since ‘Megxit’. Arriving incognito to keep their visit top secret, the pair were spotted walking to Windsor Castle by churchgoers arriving for the Royal Maundy Service.
Just days later, during the 12-minute incendiary interview with presenter Hoda Kotb, the Duke made the declaration that it was his duty to ensure that his beloved grandmother was ‘protected and got the right people around her’.
He added that it had been refreshing to meet her ‘in some element of privacy, adding: ‘It was so nice to see her. She’s on great form. She’s always got a great sense of humour with me.’
When Harry visited The Hague to host the Invictus Games nearly in April 2022, it was assumed that the focus would remain solely on the event. But the Prince issued claims about his ‘really special relationship’ with the late Queen that left the Royal Family reeling
During the 12-minute incendiary interview with presenter Hoda Kotb, the Duke made the declaration that it was his duty to ensure that his beloved grandmother was ‘protected and got the right people around her’
The Duke also boldly proclaimed during that the late Queen would confide secrets that she couldn’t share with ‘anybody else’.
Such ‘inflammatory’ statement with regards to the late Monarch’s security implied, royal expert Tom Bower writes in his book Revenge, that ‘King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince William and all of the Queen’s staff were inadequate for the task’.
And these assertions resumed, Mr Bower added, ‘the war’ against his estranged family, while also destroying any chance of a so-called ‘olive branch’ that had been hoped between the once beloved British Prince and his now estranged family.
Following the extraordinary interview and the Prince’s self-proclaimed special status, Harry faced accusations of ‘breathtaking arrogance’, with ‘no bounds to his self-delusion’.
Amid increased public concerns for the late Queen’s wellbeing, Harry’s remarks also prompted an unprecedented intervention from Downing Street who were forced to dismiss his suggestion that the Queen was in need of enhanced protection.
When asked whether the Prime Minister was confident in the arrangements at the time to ensure the Queen’s welfare, a spokesman for Boris Johnson, then Prime Minister, was clear. ‘Yes’, they acutely responded.
And yet while Harry seemed happy to divulge intimate details about his relationship with the late Queen, the same could not be said when asked about that of his brother or father.
When Ms Kotb asked if he missed his beloved family members, the Duke spoke vaguely, instead choosing to shift his answers towards an enhanced focus on his late mother, Princess Diana, the People’s Princess.
Such ‘inflammatory’ statement implied, royal expert Tom Bower writes in his book Revenge, that ‘King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince William and all of the Queen’s staff were inadequate for the task’. These assertions resumed, Mr Bower added, ‘the war’ against his family
During his interview with Hoda Kotb (pictured), Mr Bower claims that Harry attempted to ‘own’ the late Princess of Wales, by insisting that she was prioritising looking out for her youngest son from her grave. The Prince also proclaimed that the US was now his ‘home’
Responding to Ms Kotb’s query about Diana’s ‘presence’ in his life, Harry responded: ‘It’s constant. It has been over the past two years, more so than ever before’.
Mr Bower even claims that Harry proceeds to desperately attempt to ‘own’ the late Princess of Wales, by insisting that she was prioritising looking out for her youngest son from her grave.
‘It’s almost as though she’s done her bit with my brother and now she’s very much helping me. She got him set up, and now she’s helping me set up’, Harry stated.
The Prince also seemed unafraid to distance himself from his once beloved British roots – proudly proclaiming that the US was now his ‘home’, with both him and Meghan being warmly ‘welcomed with open arms’.
Such statement was, Mr Bower writes, ‘a direct contradiction of his recent submission to the High Court’ during his appeal process for special protection in which his lawyer had declared to the judges that Britain ‘is and will always be his home’.
Then, on the late Queen’s 96th birthday and just days after the interview aired, Prince William and Princess Kate were forced to awkwardly dodge a question about Harry’s claims after a broadcaster called out to the Royal couple during an engagement in London.
As the couple stepped into their car, a female journalist was heard shouting: ‘Sir, does the Queen need protecting?’. William and Kate, who did not respond to such heckle, then proceeded to enter the vehicle before being driven away.
It echoed a similar moment just one year prior in which William publicly hit back against race claims issued by the Sussexes in their bombshell tell-all interview with Oprah.
When Ms Kotb asked if he missed his beloved family members, the Duke spoke vaguely, instead choosing to shift his answers towards an enhanced focus on his late mother, Princess Diana, the People’s Princess (pictured holding Harry in 1985)
On the late Queen’s 96th birthday and just days after the interview aired, Prince William and Princess Kate were forced to awkwardly dodge a question about Harry’s claims after a broadcaster called out to the Royal couple during an engagement in London
The future King had been visiting a primary school with his wife when he made a clear statement of retaliation, remarking: ‘We’re very much not a racist family’.
In the aftermath of Harry’s NBC interview, the Royal family sought to protect the Queen from further speculation as they celebrated what would come to be the Monarch’s final birthday prior to her tragic passing in September of that year.
Happily ensconced in her treasured Sandringham estate, Buckingham Palace chose not to comment on the provocation from her Montecito-based grandson.
But to Mr Bower, there was little doubt that Harry’s bold comments had caused incredible damage and even ‘tarnished the Queen’s global reputation for unblemished decency’.
Harry’s decision to acrimoniously quit as a working royal and spend the past two years making a string of damning accusations against his family was understood to have caused the Queen great heartache.
And one well-placed royal source told the Daily Mail at the time of the grave sense of shock at the Prince’s ‘breathtaking arrogance’, making clear that many felt Harry’s delusion knew ‘no bounds’.
‘It is the Queen’s birthday and despite a difficult year people are working full steam ahead on making her Platinum Jubilee an event to remember that properly honours such a remarkable woman. She just doesn’t deserve this,’ they said.
Speaking to The Daily Mail shortly after the interview, Mr Bower claimed that Harry had been ‘playing up’ his so-called ‘special relationship’ with his grandmother in a bid to maintain credibility in the United States amid the Sussexes’ ongoing deal with Netflix.
It echoed a similar moment just one year prior in which William publicly hit back against race claims issued by the Sussexes in their bombshell tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey
Following the interview, one well-placed royal source told the Daily Mail at the time of the grave sense of shock at the Prince’s ‘breathtaking arrogance’, making clear that many felt Harry’s delusion knew ‘no bounds’
The royal author added that Harry’s full demands have been ‘rebuffed’ and that his NBC interview was a way of ‘hitting out’ at those standing in the way of promoting the Sussex’s self-promotion.
Indeed, despite proudly proclaiming his personal bond with the late Queen, Harry was unable during the interview to confirm his attendance at her upcoming Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
When queried by Ms Kotb if he would be seen among his estranged family to mark her 70 years of reign, Harry replied that he ‘didn’t know’.
He added: ‘There’s a lot of things, security issues and everything else. This is what I’m trying to do, trying to make it possible that I can get my kids to meet her’.
There, the Prince was likely referring to his yearslong court battle over the levels of taxpayer-funded security he, Meghan and their children were entitled to when visiting the UK.
The Duke believed that he had been ‘singled out’ and ‘badly treated’ for ‘unjustified, inferior treatment’ following Megxit, while his barrister also argued that the removal of Met Police armed bodyguards during his UK trips left the royal’s life ‘at stake’.
But despite such concerns, the Prince, and indeed his wife, were in attendance at the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations after being ‘reassured’ over their security arrangements.
Their visit to the UK marked the first and only time their young daughter, Princess Lilibet, who was named in honour of the late Queen’s family nickname, has ever visited her father’s homeland.
Harry’s decision to acrimoniously quit as a working royal and spend the past two years making a string of damning accusations against his family was understood to have caused the late Queen great heartache
Despite such concerns, the Prince, and indeed his wife, were in attendance at the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. But Harry and Meghan, alongside the Duke of York, were not allowed to appear on Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour
And a seeming indication that relations remained frosty – Harry and Meghan, alongside the Duke of York, were not allowed to appear on Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour, with royal experts warning that to do so could have risked overshadowing the festivities.
Indeed, the relationship between the late Queen and the Prince was claimed by biographer Sally Bedell Smith, writing in her Substack, Royal Extras, to have been far from the cosy, but rather acutely damaged even prior to their wedding in 2018.
The Queen was reportedly left profoundly unhappy with Harry and Meghan prior to their wedding, with the revelations based on interviews with the queen’s cousin, the late Lady Elizabeth Anson.
Lady Liza, as she was known to friends, told Bedell Smith that Harry had been ‘rude’ to his grandmother for ten minutes during a meeting about his wedding and that Meghan’s apparent refusal to disclose details of her dress had left the late Monarch ‘saddened’.
Then, sources were later said to have told The Daily Beast that following the Sussexes no-holds-barred Oprah interview in 2021, their ‘betrayal was complete’ in the Queen’s eyes, while the insinuation of racism which cast suspicion on everyone within the Firm was ‘unforgivable’.
According to the fresh claims from the insider, the relationship between the Sussexes and the late Monarch was fractured up until her death, and was ‘never the same again’ after the Oprah interview.
Speaking to the Beast’s The Royalist section, a former courtier said of the Queen’s reaction: ‘When he and Meghan attacked the institution that she spent her whole life serving in the Oprah interview, that betrayal was complete.’
They added that those who knew Harry were ‘shocked’ by his actions, particularly because his grandfather Prince Philip was ‘on his deathbed’ at the time.
According to fresh claims from an insider who spoke to The Daily Beast, the relationship between the Sussexes and the late Monarch was fractured up until her death. Those who knew Harry were ‘shocked’ by his actions, particularly because his grandfather Prince Philip was ‘on his deathbed’ at the time of the notorious Oprah interview
The Duke of Edinburgh died on April 9, 2021, 33 days after the interview aired, and the Queen was reportedly ‘dismayed’ by the allegations of racism levelled at the family in his final days.
‘To accuse an unidentified person within the family of racism, thereby casting the shadow of suspicion over everyone, was unforgivable in her eyes,’ the former courtier said.
‘Things were never the same after that. It was a horrific series of betrayals at the end of her life.’
Meanwhile, royal author Ingrid Seward, who spent 40 years following the Firm, claimed that Harry’s fractured relationship with his grandmother stemmed from the prince being characterised as ‘the joker’.
‘When he had something serious to say to her, he had very little idea how to go about it,’ she wrote in her book, My Mother and I.
Seward wrote: ‘However much she loved Harry – and she did – she couldn’t condone the way he was speaking about the institution of the monarchy that she had spent 70 years preserving.
‘He chooses to be the victim and wreak vengeance on the slights he thought he had suffered; on his family, on the press and through the courts.
‘His row with his brother was one thing – this is not unusual with siblings, when one has all the responsibility and the other is free to have more fun.
‘But the anger aimed at the monarchy, the British people, his father and stepmother was totally unnecessary.’
In the aftermath of the late Queen’s death, the wounded relationship between Harry and the Royal Family merely worsened as Harry continued in his fight for state-funded protection for his family while on UK soil.
Within hours of the Appeal Court judgment, Harry declared in his bombshell interview: ‘This is a good old-fashioned Establishment stitch-up – and that is what it feels like’.
Perhaps an indication that death and bereavement can help reunite estranged family members, the Prince recently poignantly touched on his father’s cancer treatment and a desire to eventually reconcile with his family, stating: ‘life is precious’
He claimed there was a big injustice, and compared himself – born with security risks – to politicians such as prime ministers who seek public office and are then guaranteed Scotland Yard protection for life.
He said: ‘Other people have been protected, people who have made a choice for public office – why wouldn’t you be comfortable with someone in my position, who has given 35 years’ service to his country, including two tours of Afghanistan…I was born into this position. I was born into those risks, and they have only increased over time.’
‘I love my country and always have done. I think it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.’
At the time, Buckingham Palace said: ‘All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion’.
Meanwhile, a source also added that it would have been ‘constitutionally improper for His Majesty to intervene while this matter was being considered by the Government and reviewed by the Courts.’
The Prince, who later spoke to the BBC about his legal challenge loss, said that there had been ‘so many disagreements’ in the family, but the ‘only thing that’s left’ is the row over his security – which he said had ‘always been the sticking point’.
Perhaps an indication that death and bereavement can help reunite estranged family members, the Prince also poignantly touched on his father’s cancer treatment and a desire to eventually reconcile with his family.
He said: ‘There is no point in continuing to fight anymore, life is precious.
‘I don’t know how much longer my father has – he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff but it would be nice to reconcile.’
