Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to step down from their senior royal duties and move to California, the relationship between them and the Royal Family has been seemingly turbulent. While things have been tense for years now, they’ve reportedly escalated in recent months with the release of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and the memoir Spare, which was full of allegations and revelations. Now, a friend of Queen Elizabeth’s has called out the royal couple and all the various projects they’ve released.
The late Queen’s friend told The Daily Beast that they are fed up with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. This comment was specifically made after a story came out in The Sun that had an unnamed source claiming that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would stop leaking information about the Royal Family. In their explanation, the friend said that in Queen Elizabeth’s final months, she wasn’t doing well, and her appearance on the balcony for her jubilee “required a titanic effort.” They went on to give their thoughts on Prince Harry and Markle’s actions during those months, saying:
That was the time for Harry and Meghan to bite their tongue. Instead they produced this unending stream of incredibly hurtful films and interviews attacking her life’s work. For Harry to announce he was writing a memoir when his grandmother was not just recently widowed but actually dying herself, as he must have known she was—well, the cruelty of it takes the breath away.
These projects that the friend is referring to are most likely Harry & Meghan, which many people with a Netflix subscription watched at the end of 2022 and Prince Harry’s memoir Spare. Both the show and the book were critical of the Royal Family and the press, and were met with lots of reactions, including negative ones from sources, friends, and experts close to the Royal Family.
Following this comment, the friend explained that they think the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle allegedly have “nothing left to say” is not that impactful, saying:
The idea that they are now going to take a vow of silence after all the damage they have done, even if it was true, which I very much doubt, will do nothing to assuage the anger and disgust some of her friends feel about what they did to the queen in her final years.
For some context, Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022. The Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan dropped on December 8, 2022, and then Prince Harry’s memoir was released on January 10, 2023. It seems like this friend was bothered by these projects coming out a few months after the queen's passing, especially considering the stories told about the Royal Family in both.
Along with the release of these projects, King Charles’ coronation and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s attendance was a big topic of conversation. A royal expert called the couple out for allegedly leaking information “like nobody’s business” ahead of the ceremony. Also, the couple's attendance choices were talked about a lot, and it was also reported that Prince William was allegedly "upset about Harry's book." If these claims are true it seems like the Duke's book and docuseries rubbed his family members the wrong way.
Overall, there’s been a lot of chatter about Prince Harry and Meghan Markles’ recent activity and how it allegedly affects the Royal Family. Clearly, Queen Elizabeth’s friend does not approve of what they’ve done, especially when it comes to the projects they released in late 2022 and early 2023. As more news continues to come out about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their relationship with the Royal Family, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
