Prince Harry was not just hurt, but he was allegedly furious when his grandmother Queen Elizabeth did not include a Sussex family photo on her table when she made her Christmas Day speech in 2019. Her Majesty's snub allegedly made the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decide to step down from their royal duties.
Prince Harry Allegedly Furious With Queen Elizabeth's 2019 Christmas Day Snub
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in January 2020 that they were stepping back from their royal duties. According to them, they had thought about the move well.
British journalist and author Tom Bower is releasing a new book titled Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between Windsors on Thursday. In his new tome, the royal biographer claimed that Meghan Markle talked to her Los Angeles team about the way she and her husband could withdraw from their royal lives on the "best terms."
When the Queen learned about it, it reportedly prompted her to "slim down" the monarchy and cut the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in her 2019 Christmas Day highlight, which reportedly didn't sit well with Prince Harry.
"As Harry watched his grandmother from Vancouver, he was staggered. Four silver-framed family photographs had been carefully placed behind her," Bower wrote, Daily Star reported. "They showed the Queen's father George VI, Prince Philip, Charles and Camilla, and finally William and his family. To Harry's fury, there was no photograph of himself, Meghan, and Archie. The Windsors were airbrushing the Sussexes from history."
Bower made several other claims about Markle and Prince Harry in the anticipated book. According to him, the Queen and Prince Charles were irritated with the Duchess of Sussex's conflict with her dad, Thomas Markle Sr., and how she refused to settle the issue.
"Meghan’s excuses irritated Charles and perhaps also the Queen," Bower claimed. "The monarch must have found it hard to believe that Meghan could not resolve her differences with Thomas Markle."
Finding Freedom Confirms Prince Harry, And Meghan Markle's Exit Was Due To Queen's Snub
Royal correspondents and authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand covered Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's departure from the royal family in their book Finding Freedom. The royal biographers pointed to the same Christmas Day 2019 snubbing incident as the reason behind Prince Harry and Marke's exit.
When Prince Harry reportedly saw that they had no family picture on the Queen's table when the British monarch delivered her annual Christmas Day speech, he was bothered.
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"Harry felt as though he and Meghan had long been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future," the book claimed, Yahoo! reported. "Palace sources insisted that the photos were chosen to represent the direct line of succession, but for Harry and Meghan, it was yet another sign that they needed to consider their own path."
Russell Myers, Daily Mirror royal reporter and co-host of Pod Save The Queen podcast, also spoke about the same issue on the Channel 5 documentary Meghan and Harry: The New Revelations. He confirmed that the lack of a family photograph representing the Sussex was a big issue for Prince Harry and Markle.
"The lack of photograph of them during the Queen's Christmas speech obviously had an effect on them... They felt it was a slight, they felt put out," Myers said.
Stay tuned for more news and updates about the royal family.
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